Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors (Dolly Parton)

Subject: Lyr Add: COAT OF MANY COLORS (Dolly Parton)
From: catspaw49
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 01:43 AM

Since I mentioned this when I added "Mountain Angel" I thought I'd check and see if we had it...and we didn't. I DID find an unanswered lyrics request for it buried in another thread, so I'll link it later.

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^^COAT OF MANY COLORS
(Dolly Parton)
As recorded by Dolly Parton on "Coat of Many Colors" (1971)

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 mama put the rags to use.

There were rags of many colors, but every piece was small,
And I didn't have a coat, and it was way down in the fall.
Mama 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 Mama blessed it with a kiss.

CHORUS: My coat of many colors that my mama 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 mama 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 laughin' and making fun of me
In my coat of many colors my mama made for me.

And, oh, I couldn't understand it for I felt I was rich,
And I told them of the love my mama sewed in every stitch,
And I told 'em all the story Mama told me while she sewed,
And how my coat of many colors was worth more than all their clothes.

CHORUS: 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 mama made for me,
Made just for me.

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Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 02:18 AM

Thanks, Pat.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 02:27 AM

Sorcha,

Thanks for posting this song. (I already sing it, but I haven't transcribed it, so you saved me the trouble.
A question on the lyrics, though. I thought it was
"And how my coat of many colors Was worth more than all their gold," (instead of "than all their clothes.")
Do you know for sure which is right?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: catspaw49
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 02:37 AM

Since Sorcha posted the song, I'll let her answer that.

Just kiddin'........The line is as I have it....Clothes not Gold. Click here and listen

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 04:22 AM

I'll take your word for it, catspaw. I just wasn't sure. Thanks for answering (and posting).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: wysiwyg
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 10:09 AM

Had the TV on last night then, huh?

Thanks, Sorch. (Boy? Girl?)

~S~

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 11:04 AM

Huh??? Why am I getting credit for posting a song Spaw posted??? and Susan, boy/girl what??? Moose?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: masato sakurai
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 12:10 PM

"I go wondering once again" instead of "I go wandering once again"? "Wandering" is the word in the transcription in Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy by Dorothy Horseman. I'm not a native speaker of English; I'm wondering which is right.

Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: Midchuck
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 12:29 PM

My wife realized that you can sing "The Friggin' Falcon" to that melody, and it sounds even better than to Ghost Riders in the Sky.....

Peter.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: GUEST,Argenine
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 08:34 PM

I also have a tape of Dolly singing it, and she sings, "to find the children laughing, making fun of me ... ."
It's a small point, and she may well sing it differently from one venue to another.
Arge

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: Genie
Date: 07 Sep 09 - 05:45 PM

According to Wikipedia, Dolly composed the song in 1969, while she was on tour with Porter Wagoner.
"(She explained in her 1994 memoire, "My Life and Other Unfinished Business", because she could find no paper, as the song came to her, she wrote it on the back of a dry cleaning receipt from one of Wagoner's suits ... .)"
Her first recording of this song was 1971, as the title song for her album of the same name. It was also eleased as single that year.
I'll use 1969 as the original copyright date, since a copyright starts at the time a work is created.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: GUEST,Seth from Olympia
Date: 07 Sep 09 - 10:28 PM

I had a great time teaching this song to my Chinese students when I was teaching in Henan Province about ten years ago. The 5th and 6th graders liked it so much they made a play from it that we performed for the school. Somehow the Bible references got dropped, but being too poor to buy or have a winter coat? Oh, yeah, Chinese kids could relate to that'
This wasn't the only song that we made a play from, but by far the most sucessful and the one that crossed cultural barriers most smoothly.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: Janie
Date: 08 Sep 09 - 12:17 AM

Thanks for sharing that, Seth.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Coat of Many Colors-Dolly Parton
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Sep 09 - 10:59 AM

Once I was playing "Trivial Pursuit" with some friends. One of my opponents drew the question: "Who wore a coat of many colors?" She gave the correct answer: "Joseph." I remarked (trying to make a feeble joke), "I thought it was Dolly Parton." All I got was a blank stare. She must have thought I was an idiot.

Later that same evening, I turned on the radio, and what song do you suppose we heard? It was Dolly Parton, singing COAT OF MANY COLORS.

My friend said, "Oh, now I get it!" She had never heard the song before.