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Coat of Many Colors
Studio album by Dolly Parton
Released	October 2, 1971
Recorded	March - April, 1971, RCA Studio "B", Nashville
Genre	Country music
Length	27:26
Label	RCA
Producer	Bob Ferguson
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (A-) link Music Box link Pitchfork Media (7.0/10) link
Dolly Parton chronology
Joshua (1971) Coat of Many Colors (1971) Touch Your Woman (1972)
Singles from Coat of Many Colors
"My Blue Tears" Released: July 17, 1971 "Coat of Many Colors" Released: October 30, 1971

Coat of Many Colors is a 1971 album and single by Dolly Parton. 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.

"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 2003, the album was ranked number 299 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.

Track listing

1. "Coat of Many Colors"** (Parton) – 3:05, recorded April, 1971
2. "Traveling Man" (Parton) – 2:40, recorded April 16, 1971
3. "My Blue Tears" (Parton) – 2:16, recorded April, 1971
4. "If I Lose My Mind" (Porter Wagoner) – 2:29, recorded April, 1971
5. "The Mystery of the Mystery" (Wagoner) – 2:28, recorded April, 1971
6. "She Never Met a Man (She Didn't Like)" (Parton) – 2:41, recorded October 30, 1969
7. "Early Morning Breeze" (Parton) – 2:54, recorded January 26, 1971
8. "The Way I See You" (Wagoner) – 2:46, recorded April, 1971
9. 'Here I Am" (Parton) – 3:19, recorded April, 1971
10. "A Better Place to Live" (Parton) – 2:39, recorded October 30, 1969

2007 Re-Issue

1. "My Heart Started Breaking" (Parton) – previously unreleased, recorded January 25 and April 16, 1971
2. 12. "Just As Good As Gone" (Parton) – released as RCA single, recorded April 1971
3. "The Tender Touch of Love" (Wagoner) – previously unreleased, recorded April 16, 1971
4. "My Blue Tears" (Acoustic Demo) (Parton) – previously unreleased, recorded January 25, 1971

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" at Dolly Parton On-Line