Ragged Coat, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer, once poor, receives a large inheritance. As an experiment, he goes out in poor clothing -- and is despised. As soon as he displays money, he is treated kindly. He repeats the test, then notes "Many an honest heart beats beneath a ragged coat."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1850
KEYWORDS: poverty money clothes
FOUND IN: US(MA) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 102, "The Ragged Coat" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1950, p. 131, "The Ragged Coat" (2 references)
ADDITIONAL: John Burke, _Burke's Christmas Songster 1920_, self-published, 1918 (PDF available on the Memorial University of Newfoundland site), p. 11, "The Ragged Coat" (1 text)
ST FSC102 (Partial)
Roud #30113
RECORDINGS:
John Connors, "Ragged Coat" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Don't Despise a Man Because He Wears a Ragged Coat
NOTES [20 words]: According to a broadside listed in Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, this was "As Sung by Ned Riley, with Unbounded Applause." - RBW
Last updated in version 4.4
File: FSC102

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography