Dolly Parton’s final studio recording has surfaced as a duet with Bono on a track about a divided family.
The country legend, 80, laid down her vocals for “Torn” in June, just two months before her death on Aug. 25 following a private cancer battle. The collaboration closes U2’s 16th studio album, “Carnaval De Luz,” which arrived this week.
Bono, 64, said in September that Parton rose from bed rest to complete the session despite her deteriorating health. “When she got ill, she got out of her bed to sing this song. And you can hear that. And I can’t even listen to it now,” the U2 frontman said.
The Irish rocker continued, “She sang her heart out, and I cannot believe that’s an 80-year-old woman. It’s very moving to have had these intimacies with such a figure. The fact that they’re not there now, in any way you can call back, other than through her songs, is very sobering.”
Producer Garret “Jacknife” Lee relayed that Parton “loved” the finished track and was “so proud of her vocal.”
During an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Thursday, Bono offered additional context about Parton’s state of mind during the recording. “It’s her last prayer in a way,” he remarked. “I think it’s for America but anywhere where there is a divided politics.”
He noted that Parton herself “didn’t realize she was that ill” while working on the song.
The ballad’s lyrics directly address familial fracture and national division. In the chorus, Parton and Bono sing together, “Torn apart these loving hearts / That beat and break the same / We share a house divided / And the blood that fills our veins.”
“Brothers turn to strangers / And sons deny their name,” the pair continue. “Somebody loses either way / And every heart is torn.”
Parton delivers the second verse solo, asking, “Are you your brother’s keeper now? Or know what you’re fighting for? / Nothing hurts a mother more than a family at war.”
The release arrives amid ongoing turbulence within Parton’s inner circle. Her estate fired nephew Bryan Seaver from his post as head of security less than a month after her death, with manager Danny Nozell accusing him of extortion and threats. Seaver denied the allegations and disclosed last month that both he and his daughter had been excluded from the CMA tribute to Parton.
“I was not invited. Nor was my daughter, Dolly’s songwriting guitar playing, claw hammer finger pickin progeny,” Seaver wrote via Facebook in October. “The rest of my entire family was invited. A few attended. My kids and I were told not to attend. Such is life.”
Nozell has since dismissed his lawsuit against Seaver ahead of their scheduled courtroom confrontation.
The “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” songwriter’s posthumous appearance on “Carnaval De Luz” marks her only known studio work since her diagnosis. U2’s album, their first full-length release since 2017’s “Songs of Experience,” draws heavily on the sonic textures of their early-1990s era.
Bono’s emotional response to the track has underscored its significance for both artists. “I can’t even listen to it now,” he repeated in his interview, a sentiment he echoed during his late-night television appearance.
The duet stands as the closing statement on an album that finds the Dublin quartet revisiting the experimental spirit of “Achtung Baby” and “Zooropa” amid contemporary political polarization.
U2 continues their promotional run with Bono scheduled to appear on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” next week.