Grammy Rule Change Kept Dolly Parton’s Classic From Song of the Year Consideration

Whitney Houston’s 1992 cover of “I Will Always Love You” won two Grammys, but songwriter Dolly Parton was ineligible for song of the year because she had released the original in 1974. The Recording Academy had tightened eligibility rules after Irving Gordon’s “Unforgettable” won in 1992 despite being a decades-old standard. Current rules require a song to be newly released or achieve prominence for the first time during the eligibility period.