Coat of Many Colors Chords by Selah

I'm from East Tennessee, grew up right outside of Knoxville, and the lady that wrote this
song is also from East Tennessee, and I've always felt a kinship with her.
_ Because I'm the only one in my family that does music.
I moved to Nashville when I was 18, went to Belmont, but I knew from a young age, about
age 7, that I just felt that God had given me a gift of music and he wanted, in some
form I knew I wanted to help people with it.
I didn't know exactly what form that would take, but he led me to Nashville and it was
in 88, and then we signed our record contract in 98.
So it was 10 years.
It was a lot of, you know, I mean, you all know this industry, you know, it's a lot of
struggle, a lot of tears, a lot of pain, but we got to do, a dream of mine came true.
We had, in 2002 we did a Christmas album called Rose of Bethlehem, which is one of my favorite
albums that we've done, and we did a song on there written by Dolly Parton, and I remember
talking, that's Jason Kyle, our producer, right there, our co-producer on all of our
albums, so yeah, man.
_ _ And I was like, let's just see if Dolly will come and sing on this, you know, with us,
do a duet, and I was like, the worst she can do is say no, and so we sent the stuff off
and about a month later, we got the word back from her folks and they said, yeah, they said
Dolly loves y'all's sound, she loves what you're doing with her song, and she'd love
to, you know, come sing with you.
So I got to do the duet with her on her song on our Christmas album, but in the studio
that morning, it was just amazing.
I mean, she's, I mean, a lot of you in here may know her, but she's just an angel, you
know, I mean, what you see is what you get, we were just, it was a beautiful morning,
great morning of work, but we talked, and I'll never forget, she just kept, you know,
she would hug me, she'd just hug on me, we really bonded, both of us being from East
Tennessee, and she would say, you took a chance, she said you were a dreamer like me, she said,
and you took a chance, you followed your heart, no matter the obstacles, she said, and here
we are standing in a studio together, you know, and then she just, yeah, she just squeezed
on you and everything, and I got to say, being hugged by Dolly Parton's quite an experience,
so, you know, _ but, _ but, you know, but that was the thing, we talked about dreams, and
about, about following your dreams and following your heart, I was, when I was a little kid,
she always represented that to me, and so when the time came for this album, I've been
singing this in concert, probably, what, ten years, you know, a long time, and it just
finally felt right to put it on this album, because a lot of people would always come
up and say, where's that song, you know, and the song is Code of Many Colors, which
we talked about in the studio that morning, I told her that I sing that a lot, and she
was really touched, and she said, out of everything she's written, and obviously you guys know
what a great writer she is, she said that's the most precious song to her, she wrote it
for her mom and about her mom, and it's a true story from her life, and [C#] I [F#] love a good
story, and I love a good story song, so.
_ _ Back _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ through the years, I go wondering once again, _ _ back to the seasons [B] of my youth, _ _ [F#] and
I recall a box of rags someone gave us, _ and how my mama put those [B] rags to use.
_ [F#] There were rags of many colors, and every piece was small, and I didn't have a coat,
and it [C#] was way down in the fall, _ [F#] mama sewed the rags together, [G#]
[B] sewing every piece with
love she [F#] made my code of many colors, [C#] that I was [F#] so proud of.
_ As she sewed, she told a story from the Bible she had [G#] read, [F#]
about a code of many colors,
[G#] _ [C#] Joseph Warren then, she said, [F#] perhaps this code will bring you [B] good luck and happiness,
and I [F#] just couldn't wait to wear it, [C#] and mama bless it [F#] with her kiss.
_ [B] My code of many [F#] colors that my mama made for me, [B] _ made from only [F#] rags, but I wore it [C#] so proudly.
_ _ _ [F#] It's true we had no money, but [B] I was rich as I could be, [F#] in my code of many colors,
[C#] my mama _ [F#] made for me.
_ _ _ _ _ _ Sewed patches on my [C#] breeches, and holes in both my shoes, [F#] in my code of many colors,
_ [C#]
I hurried off to school, [F#] just to find the others laughing, [B] and making fun of [F#] me,
in my code of many colors, [C#] that mama [F#] made for me.
And oh, I couldn't understand that, for I felt I was rich, and I told them of the love,
[C#] mama sewed in every stitch, [F#] and all about that story, [B] mama told me while she sewed,
and [F#] how my code of many colors, _ [C#] was worth more than [F#] all their _ clothes,
but [B] they didn't understand [F#] it, and I tried to make them see, _ _ [B] one is only poor, _ _ [F#] only if they [C#] choose to be.
_ _ _ _ [F#] It's true we had no money, but [B] I was rich as I could [F#] be, in my code of many colors,
[C#] my mama [B] made for me, [F#] _ _
made just for me. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [N] We actually got a pretty consistent review in the other day, and these guys don't know about it yet,
so we just wanted to have Alan read off what the initial state is.
So, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
oh, _ I don't know if I can read it.
Dear Alan and Selah, oh how I love the new Selah CD,
Hope of the Broken World, what a great group of talent, I just about had an emotional breakdown
when I heard your version of Code of, your _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ voice and emotion on the song went straight to my soul,
I wish my mom could have heard it, _ she's in heaven now, so she probably has, _ thank you Alan for loving
my son, and for doing such an incredible arrangement and performance, I guess these Tennessee people
just have a knack for touching people's hearts, you certainly touched mine, I'll always love you, it's Dolly. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _