Dolly Parton will never retire.

The 68-year-old singer insists only if she or her husband Carl Dean got ill would she turn her back on her career and she hopes to keep performing well into old age.

She said: ''I hope to continue to go, unless my health should fail me or my husband should fall sick. I intend to work till I fall over. I would love to be able to be like Bob Hope and Betty White and a lot of those folks that work till they're 90, 100 years old. I have no intentions of retiring!''

Dolly also admitted she loves seeing her friends ''slaughter'' her songs at karaoke.

She laughed: '' I have seen my songs slaughtered pretty good, by some of my drunk friends. But it's always fun. It's always good.''

Several of Dolly's songs have been covered by other artists, and she insists there are no interpretations she doesn't like.

She told The Guardian newspaper: ''It's always a great honour for anybody to record your songs. It's always curious to see how people interpret your songs. Some people say, 'Ooh, I didn't like that version', but I say: 'Well, I like every version, because it's amazing how people feel and hear the songs so differently.' ''