TIME CAPSULE: "coat of many colors" by dolly parton.

"coat of many colors" (1971) was one of dolly parton's earliest solo hits, and is her favorite of all the songs she's ever written. before i write another word, can we talk about dolly's nails and how she's managing to play guitar with them?

anyway, so this classic country song alludes not just to joseph's coat of many colors from my favorite testament and yours, but also to a real-life coat her mom made for her out of rags when dolly was a little girl and her family was "dirt poor," as she tells it. so little dolly wears this amazing technicolor dreamcoat to school and all the nasty little kids make fun of her, as kids always do, and what amazes me is that, instead of "misplacing" or "forgetting" the coat on the playground (which is probably what i would have done) and then kicking and screaming at mom after school for being so embarrassing and ruining her life by making her wear that dorky thing in public, dolly schools the kids about how her coat is actually awesome because it's stitched with her mama's love, and that because of this love, she is actually rich and her coat is worth more than all of their clothes combined. oh, if they could all come out like dolly.

speaking of dreams, below is oprah making shania twain's lifelong dream come true: to perform her favorite song, "coat of many colors," with the queen of country herself.