Back in 2003, the roots music tastemakers at Sugar Hill Records issued the tribute album Just Become I'm a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton. Its track list included the likes of Shania Twain, Alison Krauss, Nora Jones and the late Sinead O'Connor. The latter interpreted "Dagger Through the Heart" for the covers project.
Videos by Wide Open Country
In typical Parton fashion, the country and rock hall of famer showed gratitude to O'Connor in a letter dated June 25, 2003.
"Well, I have always loved you anyhow, but now I love you more," Parton wrote, as shared on Twitter. "I absolutely love how you sang 'Dagger Through the Heart.' Man alive, I feel that through and through."
Dolly Parton's letter to Sinead O'Connor after Sinead covered "Dagger Through the Heart" for a tribute album pic.twitter.com/uY5EgXWp07
— Ray Padgett (@rayfp) July 26, 2023
"Dagger Through the Heart" was a new Parton composition at the time. It first appeared on its writer's 2002 album Halos & Horns.
O'Connor was no stranger to country music. A cover of Loretta Lynn's "Success" —titled "Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home" by O'Connor— was the first song O'Connor performed during her controversial Oct. 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live, during which she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II.
She also sang Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up" as a duet with Willie Nelson.
News of 56-year-old O'Connor's death was confirmed Wednesday (July 26) by her family in a statement to RTE.
"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad," the statement read. "Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time."
O'Connor's breakthrough hit was the timeless heartbreak anthem "Nothing Compares 2 U," which was penned by Prince. The song, featured on her 1990 album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991. However, O'Connor boycotted the Grammys that year, sharing in an open letter that she felt the Recording Academy "acknowledge[s] mostly the commercial side of art."
