Coat Of Many Colors

Album: Coat Of Many Colors (1971)
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  • 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 colors
    Every piece was small
    And I didn't have a coat
    And it was way down in the fall
    Momma sewed the rags together
    Sewin' every piece with love
    She made my coat of many colors
    That I was so proud of

    As she sewed, she told a story
    From the Bible, she had read
    About a coat of many colors
    Joseph wore and then she said
    Perhaps this coat will bring you
    Good luck and happiness
    And I just couldn't wait to wear it
    And momma blessed it with a kiss

    My coat of many colors
    That my momma made for me
    Made only from rags
    But I wore it so proudly
    Although we had no money
    I was rich as I could be
    In my coat of many colors
    My momma made for me

    So with patches on my britches
    And holes in both my shoes
    In my coat of many colors
    I hurried off to school
    Just to find the others laughing
    And making fun of me
    In my coat of many colors
    My momma made for me

    And oh, I couldn't understand it
    For I felt I was rich
    And I told 'em of the love
    My momma sewed in every stitch
    And I told 'em all the story
    Momma told me while she sewed
    And how my coat of many colors
    Was worth more than all their clothes

    But they didn't understand it
    And I tried to make them see
    That one is only poor
    Only if they choose to be
    Now I know we had no money
    But I was rich as I could be
    In my coat of many colors
    My momma made for me
    Made just for me Writer/s: Dolly Parton
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 6

  • Jim Taylor from Tooele, UtahI read of Dolly's gift of $1 million to Vanderbilt University for medical research and thought immediately of the little girl from poverty who grew up to give gifts to an outfit whose very name speaks of wealth. I hope the ladies of Vanderbilt learn as much from their school as Dolly did at her mother's knee.
  • Jennifur Sun from RamonaDolly is right about people thinking you are poor if you don't have the 'right clothes ect'. There are those in the world who would trade money for just being loved.
  • Shaistha from Gaborone, BotswanaWe are doing this song for our school concert and to my opinion this is a heart warming song
  • Slater from Yuma, AzI havent heard this song in such a long time. My mom used to play this for me when I was young. I really love it.
  • Jerry from Brooklyn, NyThe late, great Eva Cassidy also recorded this song. A new CD of previous unreleased recordings, called "Somewhere", has just come out, and her rendition of this is absolutely mervelous, as anyone familiar with Cassidy's work might expect.
  • Andy from Halesowen, West Midlands, United KingdomAlways loved this song from the first time I heard it on the radio. You could tell it was a true story somehow, and it made me realise that though we were kids in a working class family, we were much better off than lots of others, even if we did not get everything we wanted.
    Emmylou Harris did a good cover of this, very faithful to the original, on her first album, Pieces fo the sky.
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