Country Music Icon Dolly Parton Regrets Locking A Secret Song Away

Country music icon Dolly Parton revealed a little secret on a recent guest appearance during “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”

Parton shared with fellow music star and tv host Kelly Clarkson that seven years ago, she had recorded a song that won’t be released until 2045. The secret song is hidden in a time capsule at her Dollywood DreamMore resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

The legendary singer admitted that having the song locked away hasn’t sat easy with her.

“I have written a song that nobody’s going to hear until I’m 99 years old,” she said. Parton went on to say that she regrets locking it away because “it’s really good” and she feels it should be heard before 2045.

“You have no idea how that has bothered me, I want to dig that up so bad,” she added.

The idea for the mysterious song came from her marketing team as a way to remember her and her influence. It’s said that the song is sealed in a chestnut wood box — called the Dreambox — that her uncle built.

A tweet from the account “Between the Parks” in 2020 stated the Dreambox time capsule is set to be open in 2046 on Parton’s 100th birthday.

Other reports (and Parton herself) have said it’ll be opened in 2045 on the 30th anniversary of the resort at Dollywood.

Either way, Parton has said the box was meant to be opened after her death, but added that she might be around.

“They weren’t expecting me to be there at all and I probably won’t be. I might be there, who knows,” she said.

Along with the secret song, the time capsule includes a cd and cassette player with instructions on how to use them.

Parton had first referenced the song in her 2020 novel “Songteller: My Life in Lyrics,” which landed on the New York Times best-seller list. She noted that locking away the song felt “like burying one of my kids, putting it on ice or something, and I won’t be around to see it brought back to life.”