Single:
Coat of Many Colours entered the Australian singles chart* on 27 March 1972 and peaked at #60.
Album:
The song is on Dolly’s 1971 album Coat of Many Colors.
Songwriter:
Dolly Parton
Producer:
Bob Ferguson
Record label of Australian release:
RCA Victor
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Dolly’s first television performance of the song, 13 January 1970, introduced by Porter Wagoner:
Songfacts:
From the title, one would be inclined to think the song had a Biblical or religious connection; although it does, it is actually autobiographical.
Parton was born in Locust Ridge, Tennessee and grew up in poverty, the fourth of 12 children, and her mother really did make her such a coat. Her classmates teased her, but Parton was proud of the coat and tried to make them understand that even though her family didn’t have much money, they were rich in other, more important ways.
Parton kept the famous coat, which later became a popular attraction at her Dollywood Museum, where it is displayed in an exhibit along with her handwritten lyrics to the song.
Even after Parton became a huge star, this song remained her favourite out of the 3000+ songs she had written. “It tells about the people I grew up with, it speaks well of my family and particularly my mother,” she told Mojo in 2004. “My spiritual values too. I can always sing that sincerely from my heart.”
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/dolly-parton/coat-of-many-colors
Lyrics:
Back through the years
I go wonderin’ once again
Back to the seasons of my youth
I recall a box of rags that someone gave us
And how my momma put the rags to use
There were rags of many colours
Every piece was small
And I didn’t have a coat
And it was way down in the fall
Click for full lyrics
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