Dolly Parton's final recorded vocals feature on U2's 'Torn'

The duet with Bono closes U2's Carnaval De Luz, the band's first new material in nine years.

Country music icon Dolly Parton recorded her last vocal performance for "Torn", a duet with U2 frontman Bono that closes Carnaval De Luz, the band's sixteenth studio album. Parton died of cancer on Aug. 25, at 80.

Parton recorded her vocals in June. A post from her team, dated June 2 and shared with Bono, read in part: "I love the song, and I think it could be something really special."

Co-written by U2, Parton and Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid, Torn was produced by Jacknife Lee. Variety says Parton and Bono sing about what seems to be a metaphor for the country's politically divided landscape. At one point Parton delivers the line: "Nothing hurts a mother more than a family at war."

A country version, Torn (Kent Wells Version), had an all-day Country Radio world premiere on Thursday, Nov. 12.

In a statement, Bono said: "You sense a border crossing," and went on: "And so you move from the south into the north, and you have Dolly Parton singing to you as you cross the border."

Speaking to Rolling Stone before the release, Bono said the recording is almost too hard for him to listen to. He told the magazine:

"When she got ill, she got out of her bed to sing this song. And you can hear that. And I can't even listen to it now."

Of her performance, he said: "She sang her heart out," and added that "I cannot believe that's an 80-year-old woman."

Parton approved the final mix before she died. The album, Carnaval De Luz, which translates to "Carnival of Light", is U2's first album of new material in nine years.

The album drops 50 years after drummer Larry Mullen Jr. pinned a handwritten notice to the message board of Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin: "Drummer Seeks Musicians To Form Band."

The band has sold 175 million albums, according to Island Records, and won 22 Grammy Awards. U2 became the first band to perform at Las Vegas's Sphere, which they launched in September 2023 with a residency called U2:UV Achtung Baby Live, staged at Sphere.

According to reps, the band is working on plans to translate the new album for Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth World Tour, a live tour in 2027.