Coat of Many Colors

This article is about the album. For other uses, see Coat of many colors (disambiguation).

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Coat of Many Colors is the eighth solo studio album by Dolly Parton, released in October 1971 by RCA Records. The title song, which Parton has described as her favourite of all the songs she's ever written, deals with the poverty of her childhood. It reached #4 on the U.S. country singles charts.

Over the years, Parton would re-record a number of the songs from the album. She redid "Traveling Man" (not to be confused with the Ricky Nelson song of the same name), a song that involved an unusual love triangle between a travelling salesman, a woman, and her mother, for inclusion on her 1973 album Bubbling Over. She would also re-record her composition "My Blue Tears", an "old-timey" folk-influenced song, with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt in the mid-1970s, for an ill-fated Trio album project. (The recording would eventually surface on Ronstadt's 1982 album Get Closer). Parton cut the song for a third time in 2001, including it on her Little Sparrow album. "Early Morning Breeze" later appeared on her 1974 Jolene album, as well as her 2014 album, Blue Smoke for which she re-recorded it for the Walmart bonus tracks.

"A Better Place to Live" was a song very much of its time, dealing with living in a utopian, peaceful world where people love one another, and was very much in the same vein as Jackie DeShannon's recent hit "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" (which Parton herself would later cover in 1993).

In 2001, the album was released on CD in 2001 as Joshua & Coat Of Many Colors, attached to Joshua on one disc.

In January 2016, the album was ranked number 301 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It subsequently made Time Magazine's 100 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2006.

A re-issue released in 2007, in conjunction with Parton's 2007 European Tour, featured previously unreleased songs.

In 2010, Sony Music reissued the 2007 CD Coat of Many Colors in a triple-feature CD set with My Tennessee Mountain Home and Jolene.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Dolly Parton, except where noted

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date	Length
1.	"Coat of Many Colors"		April 27, 1971	3:05
2.	"Traveling Man"		April 16, 1971	2:40
3.	"My Blue Tears"		April 16, 1971	2:16
4.	"If I Lose My Mind"	Porter Wagoner	April 27, 1971	2:29
5.	"The Mystery of the Mystery"	Porter Wagoner	April 27, 1971	2:28

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date	Length
6.	"She Never Met a Man (She Didn't Like)"		October 30, 1969	2:41
7.	"Early Morning Breeze"		January 26, 1971	2:54
8.	"The Way I See You"	Porter Wagoner	April 27, 1971	2:46
9.	"Here I Am"		April 27, 1971	3:19
10.	"A Better Place to Live"		October 30, 1969	2:39

2007 CD Reissue

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date	Length
11.	"My Heart Started Breaking"		January 25, 1971	3:02
12.	"Just as Good as Gone"		April 27, 1971	2:28
13.	"The Tender Touch of Love"	Porter Wagoner	April 16, 1971	2:26
14.	"My Blue Tears (Acoustic Demo)"		January 25, 1971	2:24

Personnel

• Dolly Parton – vocals, guitar
• Billy Sanford – guitar
• Dave Kirby – guitar
• Jerry Shook – guitar
• George McCormick – guitar
• Pete Drake – pedal steel guitar
• Bobby Dyson – bass
• Jerry Carrigan – drums
• Buck Trent – banjo
• Mack Magaha – fiddle
• Johnny Gimble – fiddle
• Buddy Spicher – fiddle
• Hargus "Pig" Robbins – piano
• David Briggs – piano
• Background vocals – The Nashville Edition

External links

• "Coat of Many Colors" - Album information and previews - Official Dolly Parton
• "Coat Of Many Colors" at Dolly Parton On-Line