Bono Says Dolly Parton ‘Sang Her Heart Out’ for Her Final Recording With U2
Recorded in June, the collaboration became an unexpectedly poignant farewell between two music legends.
NEW YORK - MARCH 18: Model/actress Liya Kebede attends a special screening of the HBO series "#1 Ladies Detective Agency" in the Time Warner Screening Room at One Time Warner Center on March 18, 2009 in New York City.
Dolly Parton knew she had one more song to sing — and, according to Bono, she gave it her all.
Two months before her death at 80, Parton stepped into the studio to record what would become her final vocal performance: “Torn,” a country-tinged duet with Bono that will close U2’s upcoming album Carnaval De Luz.
Bono spoke to Rolling Stone about the upcoming release, and vulnerably admitted that hearing the recording is almost too difficult.
“When she got ill, she got out of her bed to sing this song,” Bono said. “And you can hear that. And I can’t even listen to it now.”
Parton recorded her vocals for “Torn” in June, and she wasn’t simply lending her voice to a song that had already been finished. She helped shape it.
Bono had originally approached Parton about collaborating on another project, but she ultimately brought him a song of her own called “Torn.” Bono and Snow Patrol‘s Johnny McDaid then reworked the lyrics around a mother watching her family break apart, creating the version that would become Parton’s collaboration with U2.
Thankfully, Parton got to hear the finished result before her passing.
According to Rolling Stone, the singer approved the final mix before her death. Producer Garet “Jacknife” Lee recalled that Parton was proud of her vocal and “thrilled with it.” That makes “Torn” more than just a posthumous collaboration. It is a recording Parton herself signed off on — and one that now carries the weight of being the final vocal performance of a seven-decade career.
U2 announced Thursday (Sept. 24) that “Torn” will be the closing track on Carnaval De Luz, the band’s first studio album of new material in nine years. The 12-track set is due Nov. 13 via Island Records.
The album itself marks a significant time for U2 and their careers. Carnaval De Luz arrives during the band’s 50th anniversary year and follows two surprise six-track EPs, Days of Ash and Easter Lily, released earlier in 2026. According to U2, the three projects were recorded during the same creative period and are connected by a broader thematic arc.
“Torn,” though, now sits apart from the rest of the album because of what it represents. Bono shared that it serves as somewhat of a reminder of how intimate music-making can become when the person on the other side of the microphone is no longer here.
“It’s very moving to have had these intimacies with such a figure,” he told Rolling Stone. “The fact that they’re not there now, in any way you can call back, other than through her songs, is very sobering.”
Parton died on Aug. 25 at 80 from a brief battle with cancer.
