Los Angeles, Jul 16 (IANS): Country music legend Dolly Parton, 77, has said she’d rather die performing than retire.

“I would never retire. I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song onstage someday. Hopefully, one I’ve written. But that’s how I hope to go,” the ‘Jolene’ singer said on the Greatest Hits Radio show.

“Of course, we don’t have much of a choice in that. But as long as I’m able to work, as long as my health is good and my husband is good. I mean, the only way that I would ever slow down or stop would be for that reason. But in the meantime, I’m gonna make hay while the sun shines,” she said, as per 'The Hollywood Reporter'.

Since her debut album 'Hello, I’m Dolly' in 1967, Parton has gone on to become a music legend, releasing a total of 65 studio albums so far.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee explained that since she’s been lucky to have so many dreams come true throughout her music career, she wants to make sure she doesn’t let anything go to waste.

“I always believe that if you’ve wanted your dreams to come true and you are lucky enough to have that happen, then you’ve got to be responsible because you gotta keep the dream alive,” she said.

“And every dream kind of spawns another dream. You can branch off of almost anything that happens and make a business of that as well. So it’s kind of like a tree with good roots – it’s got a lot of limbs and it’s also got a lot of leaves. So, why not make the most of it?”

The Grammy-winning music icon's first rock album is slated for release on November 17.

The rock album, announced last year, titled ‘Rockstar’ — was revealed to be a mix of original tracks, as well as covers of Prince, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more.