After a colour-themed pair by Mattiel from Atlanta, let's enjoy twin versions from the Tennessee great, who also likes a shade of country and colour, in this tale of patchwork poverty, mother's love, and childhood pride. The title track from Dolly's 1971 album, it was written on a tour bus on the back of a dry-cleaning receipt borrowed from the singer Porter Wagoner, and became a huge hit. No one quite mixes the artificial with the genuine like Dolly, a true songwriting talent, who despite her plastic looks, always seems to be a wonderful, chatty, normal person, as shown on this later version in 1990, shown below, when on holiday in County Derry in Ireland, when she walks into a pub and begins performing in with a local musician.
[Verse 1]
Back through the years
I go wondering 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
Every piece was small
And I didn't have a coat
And it was way down in the fall
Mama sewed the rags together
Sewing 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
[Verse 2]
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
[Verse 3]
So with patches on my britches
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 mama made for me
[Verse 4]
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 them all the story
Mama told me while she sewed
And how my coat of many colors
Was worth more than all their clothes
[Verse 5]
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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