She composed the song in 1969, while traveling with Porter Wagoner on a tour bus. She recorded the song in April 1971, making it the title song for her Coat of Many Colors album. The song reached #4 on the U.S. country singles charts.
Content
The song tells of how Parton's mother stitched together a coat for her daughter out of rags given to the family. As she sewed, she told her child the biblical story of Joseph and his Coat of Many Colors. The excited child, "with patches on my britches and holes in both my shoes", rushed to school, "just to find the others laughing and making fun of me" for wearing a coat made of rags.
And oh I did not understand it, for I felt I was rich And I told them 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
The song concludes with Parton singing the moral of her story:
But they didn't understand it, and I tried to make them see 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
Missing final verse
On the original LP release of the 1975 compilation Best of Dolly Parton, the printed lyrics to the song appeared in the inner gatefold of the album, including a final verse that has never been included on any of Parton's recordings of the song:
Original coat
Dolly says the original coat was used for various other purposes but her mother did make a new one to use on display in her Chasing Rainbows Museum at Dollywood.
Interpretations by other artists
recorded a cover version of the song on the 2003 Parton tribute album , with accompaniment by Alison Krauss and Union Station. This version peaked at #57 on the BillboardHot Country Singles & Tracks chart based only on unsolicited airplay. Other cover versions include a 1976 recording by Emmylou Harris on her Reprise Records debut Pieces of the Sky; decades later, Harris performed the song live in 2017 for the getTV special A Nashville Christmas. A recording of the song by Eva Cassidy was released on the 2008 posthumous collection Somewhere. Scottish comedian Billy Connolly recorded a version in 1975 on his album Get Right Intae Him. This was a serious version unlike his comical song "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." which parodied "D-I-V-O-R-C-E", made popular by Tammy Wynette and also covered by Parton. Melinda Schneider and Beccy Cole covered the song on their album Great Women of Country.
