Dolly Parton has been joined by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two surviving Beatles, for her cover of The Fab Four’s Let It Be.
McCartney’s voice is clearly audible on the recording, while Starr is reported to be on drums. Mick Fleetwood (a co-producer on the track) and Peter Frampton are also said to feature.
“I was so proud of getting to sing songs like Let It Be with Paul McCartney. He played the piano also and Ringo played the drums,” Parton told live streaming online network TalkShopLive.
“I just asked Paul, because it’s his song, he co-wrote that. So I thought if I could get him to play, I asked him if he would sing on it and he said ‘yeah I’ll sing and I’ll play if you want me to’.
“And then it was after he’d done his vocal that I thought, you know what, because we had done a lot of tracks before - so we had a drummer on it - and we thought, well why don’t we just replace the drummer with Ringo? And that’s what we did because I thought wow, that would be all the [surviving] Beatles.”
Parton’s version of Let It Be will feature on Rockstar, her forthcoming album of rock material that will feature nine original songs and 21 covers, one of which is a medley of Queen’s We Are The Champions and We Will Rock You. The album will be released on 17 November.
Other potential highlights include a new version of Every Breath You Take, performed with Sting, a duet with Miley Cyrus on Wrecking Ball, and the intriguing prospect of a cover of Stairway to Heaven featuring Lizzo. Blondie’s Debbie Harry will appear on Heart Of Glass, Elton John will help out on Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, and Lynyrd Skynyrd have contributed to Parton’s version of Free Bird.
Rockstar was inspired by Parton’s nomination for inclusion in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which she initially rejected on the basis that she had not “earned that right”. She later reconsidered, and was inducted at the ceremony in 2022.
