{"id":611343,"date":"2026-09-25T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/611343\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T12:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T12:00:23","slug":"bono-opens-up-about-dolly-partons-final-recording-with-u2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/611343\/","title":{"rendered":"Bono Opens Up About Dolly Parton’s Final Recording With U2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDolly Parton<\/a> knew she had one more song to sing \u2014 and, according to Bono<\/a>, she gave it her all.<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo months before her death at 80, Parton stepped into the studio to record what would become her final vocal performance: \u201cTorn,\u201d a country-tinged duet with Bono that will close U2\u2019s upcoming album Carnaval De Luz.<\/p>\n

\n\tBono spoke to Rolling Stone<\/a> about the upcoming release, and vulnerably admitted that hearing the recording is almost too difficult.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen she got ill, she got out of her bed to sing this song,\u201d Bono said. \u201cAnd you can hear that. And I can\u2019t even listen to it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tParton recorded her vocals for \u201cTorn\u201d in June, and she wasn\u2019t simply lending her voice to a song that had already been finished. She helped shape it.<\/p>\n

\n\tBono had originally approached Parton about collaborating on another project, but she ultimately brought him a song of her own called \u201cTorn.\u201d Bono and Snow Patrol<\/a>\u2018s Johnny McDaid<\/a> then reworked the lyrics around a mother watching her family break apart, creating the version that would become Parton\u2019s collaboration with U2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThankfully, Parton got to hear the finished result before her passing.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Rolling Stone, the singer approved the final mix before her death. Producer Garet \u201cJacknife\u201d Lee recalled that Parton was proud of her vocal and \u201cthrilled with it.\u201d That makes \u201cTorn\u201d more than just a posthumous collaboration. It is a recording Parton herself signed off on \u2014 and one that now carries the weight of being the final vocal performance of a seven-decade career.<\/p>\n

\n\tU2 announced Thursday (Sept. 24) that \u201cTorn\u201d will be the closing track on Carnaval De Luz, the band\u2019s first studio album of new material in nine years<\/a>. The 12-track set is due Nov. 13 via Island Records.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe album itself marks a significant time for U2 and their careers. Carnaval De Luz arrives during the band\u2019s 50th anniversary year and follows two surprise six-track EPs, Days of Ash and Easter Lily, released earlier in 2026. According to U2, the three projects were recorded during the same creative period and are connected by a broader thematic arc.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTorn,\u201d though, now sits apart from the rest of the album because of what it represents. Bono shared that it serves as somewhat of a reminder of how intimate music-making can become when the person on the other side of the microphone is no longer here.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s very moving to have had these intimacies with such a figure,\u201d he told Rolling Stone. \u201cThe fact that they\u2019re not there now, in any way you can call back, other than through her songs, is very sobering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tParton died on Aug. 25 at 80<\/a> from a brief battle with cancer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dolly Parton knew she had one more song to sing \u2014 and, according to Bono, she gave it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,2525,20137,3296,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-611343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-genre-country","tag-genre-rock","tag-music-news","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}