Dolly and Bono Are ‘Torn’ – U2 Frontman Tells How He Duetted with the Late Legend on Upcoming Album

U2’s first full-length recording in nine years will contain country legend Dolly Parton’s last recorded vocal performance.
Parton, who passed away in August, sings a duet with Bono on U2’s upcoming album Carnaval de Luz, due out in November. In an interview published in Rolling Stone, U2 frontman Bono said he played demos of songs he was working on for an Irish folk side project of his.
“She said, ‘That’s a little too Irish for me,’” Bono told writer Brian Hiatt. “But she said, ‘I got this song. It’s called “Torn,” and do you wanna see where you can take it somewhere else, maybe?’”
According to Bono, he and Snow Patrol keyboardist and vocalist Johnny McDaid rewrote the lyrics, making it about a mother watching her family split apart, and that is the version Parton agreed to sing.
“She sang her heart out,” Bono said in the article, “and I cannot believe that’s an 80-year-old woman.” U2 collaborator Daniel Lanois played a pedal steel on the track, and Larry Mullen Jr. added a drum part inspired by a Lanois.
Parton recorded the track in June of this year, but was able to approve the final mix. “Dolly loved it,” the album’s producer, Garret “Jacknife” Lee told Hiatt. “She was so proud of her vocal and the recording. She was thrilled with it. We were very nervous that she might not approve, or would be uncomfortable with it, but she loved it.”
“Torn” is the last track on Carnaval de Luz, which will be released on November 13th, in time to celebrate the band’s 50th year of playing together. The Blu-Ray, vinyl, CD and cassette are available for pre-order now at their website. Anyone placing a pre-order will receive an exclusive ticket pre-sale code for the forthcoming and soon to be announced tour.
Two tracks, “Street of Dreams” and “Silencio” are available to stream now, and the video for the surf-punk banger “Silencio” is also out now.
Here is the full tracklist for Carnaval de Luz.
- Go (Carnaval De Luz)
- La Reina
- Street Of Dreams
- The Mirror Maker (Rosalía)
- Superficiality
- If The World Is At War We Better Not Be
- Silencio
- The Greatest Show On Earth
- Glorify
- Midnight Sunshine
- Can’t Stop Us Now
- Torn (Feat. Dolly Parton)


