from THOSE WERE THE DAYS
written by John Lennon
The working relationship between David Foster and country/pop superstar Dolly Parton started in the second half of the seventies when the Hitman, already a top-list session man, played keyboards on some of Ms. Parton’s hit albums. Those recordings included Say Forever You’ll Be Mine that Ms. Parton recorded in 1975 with the late country artist Porter Wagoner (August 12, 1927 to October 28, 2007) and later on her own hit albums including Here You Come Again, Heartbreaker and Great Balls Of Fire. In 1984, Foster produced the platinum-plus Once Upon A Christmas that Ms. Parton recorded with country/pop superstar Kenny Rogers.
Then in the early nineties, the Canadian super-producer helmed a couple of elegant adult contemporary duets including “When You Tell Me That You Love Me” by Julio Iglesias and Ms. Parton and “The Day I Fell In Love” performed by the country music maven with r&b great, James Ingram. Foster was also instrumental in crafting the late Whitney Houston’s milestone version of Ms. Parton’s classic tune, “I Will Always Love You.” That timeless recording from the soundtrack of The Bodyguard became one of the best-selling singles in the history of popular music with approximately 4.5 million copies sold in the US alone.
In 2005, Foster appeared as guest piano player on Ms. Parton’s version of the late John Lennon’s (October 9, 1940 to December 8, 1980) masterpiece “Imagine” that was part of Ms. Parton’s album, Those Were The Days. That cd presented a string of memorable folk and pop classic covers from the sixties and seventies performed with a slew of guest artists including Kris Kristofferson, Roger McGuinn, Keith Urban, Cat Stevens and Alison Krauss. “Imagine” was the first single released from Those Were The Days. The classic Lennon melody was revived instrumentally with a country-flavored, adult contemporary arrangement based on Foster’s enchanting piano playing on top of a solid backing band. Ms. Parton’s vocal performance was extremely nice though, at moments, a tad over the top. The singer was supported by effective backing harmonies and the blending was top-notch. The end result was a fitting tribute to the former Beatle’s art. Those Were The Days was a hit on the Country charts reaching #9 in the US and #1 in the UK . The album also reached the Top 50 on Billboard’s Top 200 at #48 and #35 on the UK pop albums chart.
Listen
[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Imagine-Dolly-Parton.mp3|titles=Image|artists=Dolly Parton]
Lead Vocals: Dolly Parton
Acoustic Piano: David Foster
Produced by Dolly Parton
Lyrics
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one