Dolly told Elvis no. It was worth $10 million. | The Pirate Street Journal

The Pirate Street Journal · Sep 9, 2026 · 36m

HERE'S WHAT WE COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:

1. She owned the asset in 1967, before she had a single hit.

Elvis wanted half the songwriting on a song he did not write. Dolly said no, and everyone told her she was out of her mind. Seven years earlier, in 1967, before a single top ten hit, she had started her own publishing company with her uncle and owned the copyright on everything she wrote after that. Paul McCartney signed a deal he regretted for decades. His line: John and I didn't know you could own songs. Whitney Houston's 1992 cover sold 11 million copies and paid Dolly roughly $10 million…