I jointly dedicate my song today to my Facebook friend, Jane Mcpartland from Liverpool. Thank you for being my friend, Jane and have a nice day.
My song today is ‘Coat of Many Colours’ that was made famous by the Queen of Country & Western music, singer Dolly Parton. The song has been described on many occasions as being Dolly’s favourite song she ever wrote and sung. It was released in October 1971 as the second single and title track from the album ‘Coat of Many Colours’.
Dolly composed the song in 1969 while traveling with Porter Wagoner on a tour bus. She explained in her 1994 memoir, ‘My Life and Other Unfinished Business’, that at the time, she had no paper to write down her thoughts, so she wrote her words on the back of a dry-cleaning receipt from one of Wagoner's suits. When the song became a hit, Wagoner had the receipt framed. She recorded the song in April 1971, making it the title song for her ‘Coat of Many Colours’ album. The song reached Number 4 on the ‘U.S. Country Singles Charts’.
The song tells of how Parton's mother stitched together a coat for her daughter out of colourful rags given to the family. As she sewed, she told her child the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colours. The excited child, “with patches on my britches and holes in both my shoes”, rushed to the school, “just to find the others laughing and making fun of me” for wearing a coat made of rags.
Dolly Parton epitomises the country and western singer who was brought up in poverty and who sings from the depths of their own experiences. They either have been, are or will become the characters they sing about and it is their personal experiences that make their stories and songs so compelling and relatable to so many listeners. Just look at the emotions wrapped around the words of a few verses of the song below:
“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 colours 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 colours, my momma made for me.”
My research into this song revealed the words of a final verse that was never included in Dolly’s recording. No reason for its absence was never put forward by Dolly:
“Through life I've remained happy and good luck is on my side.
I have everything that anyone could ever want from life.
But nothing is as precious as my mama's memory,
and my coat of many colours that mama made for me.”]
In 2011, Dolly Parton's recording was added to the ‘Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry‘ for being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.’
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Anyone who was brought up in a large family and who had to scrape an existence in a live and make do world of continuous poverty will know and share many of Dolly’s experiences. Many people hearing this song and knowing of the extreme material privation Dolly and her family lived through (she was one of at least one dozen children) will not only emotionally feel for the hard life that Dolly’s childhood and developing years embraced, but they will also get the real message of her song.
Dolly’s is not singing about the poverty she experienced, but the wealth of her experiences and family background, as summed up in the positive philosophy she grew up with when the song words say,
“But they didn't understand it, and I tried to make them see
One is only poor, only if they choose to be.”
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in Locust Ridge, Tennessee. Dolly grew up materially poor in rural Appalachia. She was one of 12 children, and money was always an issue for her family. Her first exposure to music came from family members, including her mother, who sang and played guitar.
I know that there are many of you, who grew up in materially poorer circumstances than any reasonable person would choose to experience, but I also know that each of you who experienced material poverty grew into adulthood all the stronger for your background. I know that any such material sacrifice experienced by you was not in vain and eventually led you to nurture a deep sense of love, respect, and appreciation for all that our parents sacrificed for our survival and happiness. Because of our righteous upbringing, we are ‘givers’ to society more than ‘takers’ from it. We do give a care about how others live and how we can best help them live better, and we never take for granted what God has given us today.
And just as our mothers advised us, “If you look after your pennies the pounds will take care of themselves”, so it is with the continued growth of our characters; “ If we look out for all the small things in life that we do to one another, the bigger things will also take care of themselves”
Just as it is physically impossible for two opposite forces to co-exist in one body, so it is that being kind, generous, loving, compassionate, forgiving and sensitive to the needs of others is wholly incompatible with ever doing anyone else, yourself or your God any wrong.
Love and peace Bill xxx
My song today is ‘Coat of Many Colours’ that was made famous by the Queen of Country & Western music, singer Dolly Parton. The song has been described on many occasions as being Dolly’s favourite song she ever wrote and sung. It was released in October 1971 as the second single and title track from the album ‘Coat of Many Colours’.
Dolly composed the song in 1969 while traveling with Porter Wagoner on a tour bus. She explained in her 1994 memoir, ‘My Life and Other Unfinished Business’, that at the time, she had no paper to write down her thoughts, so she wrote her words on the back of a dry-cleaning receipt from one of Wagoner's suits. When the song became a hit, Wagoner had the receipt framed. She recorded the song in April 1971, making it the title song for her ‘Coat of Many Colours’ album. The song reached Number 4 on the ‘U.S. Country Singles Charts’.
The song tells of how Parton's mother stitched together a coat for her daughter out of colourful rags given to the family. As she sewed, she told her child the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colours. The excited child, “with patches on my britches and holes in both my shoes”, rushed to the school, “just to find the others laughing and making fun of me” for wearing a coat made of rags.
Dolly Parton epitomises the country and western singer who was brought up in poverty and who sings from the depths of their own experiences. They either have been, are or will become the characters they sing about and it is their personal experiences that make their stories and songs so compelling and relatable to so many listeners. Just look at the emotions wrapped around the words of a few verses of the song below:
“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 colours 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 colours, my momma made for me.”
My research into this song revealed the words of a final verse that was never included in Dolly’s recording. No reason for its absence was never put forward by Dolly:
“Through life I've remained happy and good luck is on my side.
I have everything that anyone could ever want from life.
But nothing is as precious as my mama's memory,
and my coat of many colours that mama made for me.”]
In 2011, Dolly Parton's recording was added to the ‘Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry‘ for being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.’
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Anyone who was brought up in a large family and who had to scrape an existence in a live and make do world of continuous poverty will know and share many of Dolly’s experiences. Many people hearing this song and knowing of the extreme material privation Dolly and her family lived through (she was one of at least one dozen children) will not only emotionally feel for the hard life that Dolly’s childhood and developing years embraced, but they will also get the real message of her song.
Dolly’s is not singing about the poverty she experienced, but the wealth of her experiences and family background, as summed up in the positive philosophy she grew up with when the song words say,
“But they didn't understand it, and I tried to make them see
One is only poor, only if they choose to be.”
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in Locust Ridge, Tennessee. Dolly grew up materially poor in rural Appalachia. She was one of 12 children, and money was always an issue for her family. Her first exposure to music came from family members, including her mother, who sang and played guitar.
I know that there are many of you, who grew up in materially poorer circumstances than any reasonable person would choose to experience, but I also know that each of you who experienced material poverty grew into adulthood all the stronger for your background. I know that any such material sacrifice experienced by you was not in vain and eventually led you to nurture a deep sense of love, respect, and appreciation for all that our parents sacrificed for our survival and happiness. Because of our righteous upbringing, we are ‘givers’ to society more than ‘takers’ from it. We do give a care about how others live and how we can best help them live better, and we never take for granted what God has given us today.
And just as our mothers advised us, “If you look after your pennies the pounds will take care of themselves”, so it is with the continued growth of our characters; “ If we look out for all the small things in life that we do to one another, the bigger things will also take care of themselves”
Just as it is physically impossible for two opposite forces to co-exist in one body, so it is that being kind, generous, loving, compassionate, forgiving and sensitive to the needs of others is wholly incompatible with ever doing anyone else, yourself or your God any wrong.
Love and peace Bill xxx
