Speaking to the hosts about the sleepless night that led her to first sit down and play around with the song a little, during a bolt of creativity she's experienced countless times in her vast career, Parton set the scene, saying, "I thought, well, I don't know what I'm doing up but I'll make me a cup of coffee, and all of a sudden I started singing this song because I had watched the news the night before, as I have many times, thinking what in the world are we doing to each other and to this world?"
Describing her writing process in further detail, she said, "I just felt led to write the song. I've got one more song I have to add to the 'Rockstar' album and my heart was just heavy with all the stuff, that I'm sure we're all heavy-hearted about these days. And I was just trying to throw a little light and try to make us think a little about what we're doing and seeing, if we might step up and try to make a change."
Watch her live performance of "World On Fire" (from The 58th ACM Awards here:
