Back in 1969, Dolly Parton penned one of the most personal and emotional songs of her career. She described in her 1994 memoir that, while traveling on tour, the lyrics came to her when she had no paper to write them down. Parton then took note of them on the back of a dry cleaning receipt she found.
That song went on to become a hit when she recorded it in April 1971, as the lead single of her album of the same name: Coat of Many Colors.
“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”.
The lyrics to ‘Coat of Many Colors’ are heartwarming – and Dolly explained the true story behind it on the press tour for the 2015 film Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors.
Speaking to NBC in December of that year, she shared: “it is very personal because it’s a true story about my life. It’s about a little coat that my mother made for me at a time when I really needed it and made me feel special toward it, because she told the story about Joseph”.
Dolly’s mother drew parallels to the biblical tale from Genesis, where Joseph was favoured by his father Jacob – who gifted him a distinctive coat, sparking jealousy among his brothers. They grew more resentful after Joseph recounted dreams suggesting they would one day bow to him.
Dolly reflected on her mother’s intentions: “She didn’t want me to feel like I was just wearing rags, but she just wanted me to feel like someone else had a special coat”.
The song also narrates how the coat led to mockery from her peers: “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”.
Jennifer Nettles, who portrays Dolly’s mother in the film, shared: “[The coat] turns into not only a symbol of their family and the strength of their family but it also turns into, I think, a nice lesson for Dolly about compassion, bullying and diversity”.
Parton wraps up the song with a reflection on the significance of the coat, despite her peers’ mockery. “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”, she writes.
After the song’s success, Dolly’s mother crafted a replica for display at her Chasing Rainbows Museum in Dollywood, and her musical collaborator Porter Wagoner even donated the framed dry cleaning receipt – the canvas for Parton’s songwriting – to the museum, where it proudly hangs today.
Further celebrating Parton’s timeless tune, Harpercollins Children’s Books published a 1996 picture book inspired by the song, brought to life with illustrations by Judith Sutton. Later, Shania Twain paid homage to it with a cover on the 2003 tribute album Just Because I’m a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton, among other artists who’ve reinterpreted this classic tune.
The song’s significance was evidenced once again in 2022, when Brandi Carlile and Pink delivered an unforgettable performance during Parton’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – a nomination she initially declined but later accepted, in recognition of the deep roots of rock and roll in R&B and country music.