Dolly Parton revealed the song she wanted played at her funeral more than a decade before death at 80

Years before Dolly Parton's death at 80, the country songstress had already planned out what song she wanted to be played at her funeral.

Parton – whose nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced that she had died peacefully at her home in Nashville on Tuesday – weighed in on the subject way back in 2014 during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

The singer–songwriter began by noting that the logical funeral song for her would be one of her own tunes, I Will Always Love You, which had achieved greater fame after Whitney Houston recorded it for her film The Bodyguard (1992).

Parton previously had a hit on the country charts with her original 1974 version of the song, which she wrote in response to the end of her working relationship with the country singer Porter Wagoner, who died in 2007.

She realized just how powerful her song could be when she attended Houston's funeral in 2012.

'I’m sure they’ll be playing I Will Always Love You when I die, just like they did with Whitney Houston,' Parton said. 'When they picked her coffin up and started in on that song, I started to cry, and I thought, "Oh my Lord." That’s when it hit me that she was really gone.'

But as moving as I Will Always Love You could be, Parton imagined a different song for her funeral 12 years before her death.

'There’s a song called If We Never Meet Again,' Parton told EW. 'It’s an old country–gospel church song that talks about if we never meet again this side of heaven, I will meet you on that beautiful shore.'

She was so moved by the thought of the beloved song, which was written by the Southern Gospel songwriter Albert E. Brumley, that she continued to quote its lyrics.

'Where the charming roses bloom forever and where separations come no more,' Parton added. 

She went on to reveal that the song figured prominently in her father Robert Parton Sr.'s funeral in 2000.

'That was my daddy’s favorite,' she went on to reveal. 'We did sing it at his funeral, and I would like it to be sung at mine.'

Following the news of Parton's death, her fans got a small bit of good news when it was confirmed that her Broadway dreams would still come true.

'As was Dolly's wish, the Broadway production of Dolly: A True Original Musical will begin previews December 7 at the St. James Theatre in New York City,' the show's producers said in a statement.

The hit show will then officially open January 19 on what would've been her 81st birthday following a sold-out run in her Nashville hometown last summer.

The country legend wrote the music and book and served as producer of the rags-to-riches show helmed by Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher and choreographed by Mandy Moore.

'Now, this isn't a story about sparkle and shine on the outside,' Parton said in a video last month.

'It's about where I really come from, what I've lived, what I've lost, what I've loved and how I've found my way and told it in my own words and through the music that's been part of me every step of the journey.'

The national treasure added: 'Now, the musical has some of my big hits plus a lot of brand new songs that I've written just for the show. This really is a dream come true...and I can't wait to share it with all of you!'

DOLLY will take audiences on a journey through the life of Parton 'from her barefoot beginnings in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee to performing in platform heels under the bright lights of Hollywood.'

Katie Rose Clarke, Quinn Titcomb and Carrie St. Louis all portrayed the blonde bombshell at various stages of her life at the Belmont University Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, but the Broadway cast has yet to be announced.

However, parents should be aware that DOLLY might not be appropriate for children under age eight.

It's worth noting that Parton was only a Tony Award away from elite EGOT status.

The godmother of Miley Cyrus previously earned a Tony Award nomination for composing the music to Broadway production 9 to 5: The Musical which ran in 2009 at Manhattan's Marquis Theatre.

Parton's 1984 song With Bells On was also featured in the Broadway musical Candles, Snow & Mistletoe, which ran in 1993 at the Palace Theatre.

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winner had previously canceled her six-date residency, Dolly: Live in Las Vegas, at Caesars Palace's Colosseum.

Parton admitted in May that she's 'always had problems with my kidney stones' but for the past three years her immune system and digestive system 'got all out of whack' and now need to be 'rebuilt and strengthened.'

'The good news is I'm responding really well to meds and treatments and I'm improving every day,' the Please Please Please singer said.

'Now, the bad news is, it's gonna take me a little while before I'm up to stage performance level because some of the meds and treatments make me a little bit "swimmy headed" as my grandma used to say.

'And of course, I can't be dizzy carrying around banjos, guitars and such on five-inch heels. And you know that I'm going to be wearing them!'

Parton had admitted she still had 'some healing to do' but she has 'great doctors,' saying: 'I'm doing really well and they assure me that everything I have is treatable, so I'm going with that.'

The Light of a Clear Blue Morning singer's nephew Bryan Seaver broke the sad news via social media where he remarked on how she ' opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent.'

'By her example, we believed that anything was possible. She never saw a door she couldn't open, and the doors she opened made and changed history,' her 75-year-old head of security said.

'Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable.'

Parton's small, private funeral service will be held for immediate family and, in lieu of flowers, the family requested donations to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

The backwoods Barbie – who still pulls 16.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify – sold over 100 million records and broke 10 Guinness World Records.

Parton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999.