I Will Always Love You--Steyn Song of the Week

Traditionally on Oscar weekend we offer an Academy Award-winning song, going all the way back to the very first, "The Continental" in 1934. But not all great movie songs are, formally speaking, movie songs. On the big night exactly a quarter-century ago, two of the five Best Song nominees came from the Kevin Costner/Whitney Houston film The Bodyguard. They were up against a brace of numbers from Disney's Aladdin, plus a sensual ditty I was quite partial to but is now entirely forgotten: "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" from The Mambo Kings. Come Academy night, the Bodyguard songs wound up losing to "A Whole New World", the start of a remarkable triple-Oscar run for Tim Rice - as Tim, Don Black and I discussed briefly on a Mark Steyn Christmas Show a few years back. But, just for the record, the two losing nominees from The Bodyguard were "I Have Nothing" and "Run to You". And if you're thinking, "Hey, wait a minute! I saw Kevin and Whitney, and the only song I remember from that picture was...

I thought the song was originally written by Dolly Parton

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Will_Always_Love_You

The song, “I Will Always Love You” was originally written and recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Her country version of the track was released in 1974 as a single and was written as a farewell to her one-time partner and mentor of seven years, Porter Wagoner, following Parton’s decision to pursue a solo career.

Parton’s version of “I Will Always Love You” was a commercial success. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart twice. It first reached number one in June 1974, and then in October 1982, with her re-recording on the soundtrack of the movie version of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, making Parton the first singer ever to achieve the number one position twice with the same song. Whitney Houston recorded her version of the song for the 1992 film The Bodyguard. Her single spent 14 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. It also holds the record for being the best-selling single by a woman in music history. Houston's version of “I Will Always Love You” re-entered the charts in 2012 after her death, making it the second single ever to reach the top three on the Billboard Hot 100 in separate chart runs. The song has been recorded by many other significant artists including Linda Ronstadt and John Doe.

recorded by many other significant artists including Linda Ronstadt

Usually, once Linda Rondstadt records, that's the end of the line for the song. Subsequent covers will not sell as well. Example: "Desparado" first by the Eagles and "Blue Bayou", first by Roy Orbison.

However, Whitney Houston was the exception with this song.

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