Origins: My Old Brown Coat and Me

Subject: MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME
From: WAYNE MORGAN, PORT DE GRAVE, NF, CANADA
Date: 27 Jan 98 - 08:14 PM

LOOKING FOR THE WORDS OF "MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME"

Subject: RE: MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME
From: Bruce O.
Date: 27 Jan 98 - 09:28 PM

Would you settle for: "Take your auld cloak about you'?

Tom Brown wrote "The Card Song" in DT.

One asked (penniless) Tom Brown one cold winter's day if his coat wasn't too short. "Yes", he said, "but it will be long enough before I get another".

Subject: Lyr Add: MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME
From:
Date: 30 Jan 98 - 04:26 PM

Hi Wayne,
Here are the words to my old brown coat as best as I can give them to you.


MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME
As recorded by Lawrence Older on "Adirondack Songs, Ballads and Fiddle Tunes" (1964)

Oh, the moon was out. The stars were bright. The larks were singing free.
Come and listen while I sing about my old brown coat and me.

I lived upon my father's farm 'til I was twenty-one.
I bought a farm then, of my own, and a man's life begun.

I fell in love with Mary Braid; her father owned a store.
There never was a girl beloved so tenderly before.

Now Mary Braid was a fair young maid but haughty as could be.
She oft times said she would not wed my old brown coat and me.

I did not stop to plead my case; pleading was in vain.
I bade adieu to Mary Braid, nor saw her face again.

There's forty summers o'er my head. There's riches in my store.
My children play out on the green. My wife stands in the door.

I've land enough. I've money enough. I've houses tall and high.
There's not a squire in all this land can wear such clothes as I.

Now Mary Braid was a fair young maid but haughty as could be.
She was wedded to a lawyer's son, whose name was Josalie.

He wore a coat all shiny black and looked so very grand,
That Mary fancied he would make a noble and true man.

Now Mary's husband he became a pirate on the sea.
She oft times said she wished she'd wed my old brown coat and me.

Now girls when you are called to choose a man that bends the knee,
Think of the fate of Mary Braid, my old brown coat and me.

Remember that an old brown coat, though not so very grand,
Can cover up as warm a heart as any in the land.


That's the best I can do. The record I got it from is a bit scratchy and all the words are not too distinct.

Subject: RE: MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME
From: Tormid
Date: 01 Feb 98 - 08:09 AM

Don't know if this helps, but: Doc Williams (and Chickie?) had a recording of Old Brown Coat and Me out sometime in the early 50s. Don't know label.

Subject: RE: MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME
From:
Date: 25 Jan 99 - 11:48 AM

I have a recording of Doc Williams version of My Old Brown Coat and me.

Subject: RE: MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 25 Jan 99 - 01:25 PM

Lawrence Older, Adirondack logger, recorded it for Folk-Legacy in the 1960s. Still available as a "custom cassette" from Folk-Legacy at PO Box 1148, Sharon, CT 06069.

I'll compare his text with the one above when I have more time. Right now I oughta be working!

Sandy

Subject: Lyr Add: MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 26 Jan 99 - 12:57 PM

Here is the text as it was sung for Folk-Legacy by Lawrence Older, of Middle Grove, New York, in 1964. Lawrence learned the song from his father, who sang of "Mary Bright." After hearing the Doc Williams recording, Lawrence changed her name to "Braid." Shows you something of the power of printed or recorded sources. I recall the story of a collector returning to tape a woman's singing of her mother's version of "Barbara Allen." When he realized that what she was singing was very different from what she had sung for him earlier, she explained that she had since heard a record of the song and figured that her mother had it wrong!

MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME
As sung by Lawrence Older, Middle Grove, NY.
Folk-Legacy C-15

Oh, the moon was out, the stars were bright,
The larks were singing free;
Come listen while I sing about
My old brown coat and me.

I lived upon my father's farm
Till I was twenty-one;
I bought a farm, then, of my own
And a man's life begun.

I fell in love with Mary Braid,
Her father owned a store;
There never was a girl beloved
So tenderly before.

Now, Mary Braid was a fair young maid,
But haughty as could be;
She oft-times said she would not wed
My old brown coat and me.

I did not stop to plead my case,
Pleading was in vain;
I bade adieu to Mary Braid,
Nor saw her face again.

There's forty summers o'er my head,
There's riches in my store;
My children play out on the green,
My wife stands in the door.

I've land enough, I've money enough,
I've houses tall and high;
There's not a squire in all this land
Can wear such clothes as I.

Now, Mary Braid was a fair young maid,
But haughty as could be;
She was wedded to a lawyer's son
Whose name was Joe Zalee (?).

He wore a coat all shiny black
And looked so very grand
That Mary fancied he would make
A noble and true man.

Now, Mary's husband he became
A pirate on the sea;
She oft-times said she wished she'd wed
My old brown coat and me.

Now girls, when you are called to choose
A man that bends a knee,
Think of the fate of Mary Braid,
My old brown coat and me.

Remember that an old brown coat,
And not so very grand,
Can cover up as warm a heart
As any in the land.

Sorry folks; I can't do the music.

Sandy

---

Lawrence Older recroding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poSeJPXe924

Subject: RE: MY OLD BROWN COAT AND ME
From: Ireland O'Reilly
Date: 26 Jan 99 - 02:33 PM

Tony Sexton of Newfoundland also has done a recording of this song. I have a copy of that, but right offhand I don't know the label, either. It's not a major label, though. It's an interesting version of the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Old Brown Coat and Me
From: GUEST,M Dixon
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 01:05 PM

I'm doing research on songs and musicians from Western Prince Edward Island - From Summerside to Tignish - and a local songster named Russell Bell played "My Old Brown Coat And Me" but his lyrics are not the ones I see printed everywhere on the net. His version has a father telling his son how much of a playboy he was when younger. One part goes:

Now on the shoulders of this coat lay many a pretty head
They were every colour in the book from blonde, brunette to red.
Oh how the mothers they would frown when your old dad they'd see
And warn their daughters to beware of my old brown coat and me.

I would love to find out that these are Russell's original lyrics but I don't have conclusive evidence.
The version by Tony Sexton mentioned above, I can't find a version online?

BTW, a footnote to a transcription of the lyrics of the version by Doc Williams says:

####.... Author unknown. Variant of a song collected in 1918 by John Harrington Cox as #26 on pp.190-192 in Traditional Ballads And Folk Songs Mainly From West Virginia, edited by George Herzog and Herbert Walpert (1939) and later by George W Barwell (1964). Popularized by American country music band leader and vocalist Doc Williams [1914-2011] ....####
Recorded by Dick Nolan (Echoes Of The Atlantic / Dick Nolan And The Blue Valley Boys, 1962, trk#5, Maple Leaf).

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD My Old Brown Coat and Me
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 02:50 PM

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song.

Old Brown Coat, The

DESCRIPTION: "...Come listen while I sing about The old brown coat and me." Having worked long on his father's farm, the singer at last gets his own property. The girl he loves favored another, but he proved guilty of theft. She turns to the singer; they live happily
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1918 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: love courting clothes marriage family home work
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 791, "The Old Brown Coat" (1 text)
Cox/Hercog/Halpert/Boswell-WVirginia-B, #26, pp. 190-192, "My Old Brown Coat and Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R791 (Partial)
Roud #3114
RECORDINGS:
Lawrence Older, "My Old Brown Coat and Me" (on LOlder01)
File: R791

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2021 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

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• Lawrence Older recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poSeJPXe924
  
• Tim O'Brien recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iopepc1-2Ts
• Doc Williams recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZEHjvpH7TU
• Ray Brown recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kbak17i6u8

GEST entry on this song: http://gestsongs.com/06/coat.htm
Roud #3114 has 25 (!!!) entries.

Subject: ADD Version The Old Brown Coat
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 03:16 PM

791
THE OLD BROWN COAT

The moon is up, the stars are out,
The birds sing merrily,
Come listen while I sing about
The old brown coat and me.

I toiled upon my father’s farm
Till I was twenty-one,
I took the farm all to myself
And manhood life begun.

I fell in love with Mary Blake
Whose father kept a store,
There never was a lovelier maid,
Oh, her I did adore.

But she fell in love with Johnny Bland
Who dressed so very gay,
But when found guilty of a theft
He up and ran away.

Our children now play around the door,
They number one, two, three,
And Mary says she will always love
My old brown coat and me.


Recalled by Mrs. Effa M. Wilson, Verona, Mo., Dec. 30, 1940.


Source: Ozark Folksongs by Vance Randolph (University of Missouri Press, 1980 - Song #791, page 304 of Volume IV)

Subject: RE: Origins: My Old Brown Coat and Me
From: topical tom
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 09:55 PM

https://youtu.be/rZEHjvpH7TU

Subject: RE: Origins: My Old Brown Coat and Me
From: M Dixon
Date: 17 Mar 22 - 02:52 PM

Prince Edward Island, Canada musician Russell Bell (1947-2012) played a version of this song with original lyrics.

One day a man said to his son, "It's old enough you be
to listen to the story of my old brown coat and me."

I believe these to be Russell's lyrics but don't yet know for sure. If this is familiar to anyone please comment, thank you.

My Old Brown Coat And Me by Russell Bell