Audio track coding restricts me from posting anything but a link to the YouTube video, so you must click on the title above to give a listen. So it is with Poison’s “Every Rose has its Thorn”. There is a certain irony to the fact that no matter how many hard rockin’ testosterone struttin’ jams heavy metal and hair metal bands play, the song they will most likely be most remembered for is that one sad ballad that becomes the band’s biggest (if not only) hit.
That doesn’t disqualify it from this countdown, but explains why Bette Midler gets pride of place before Edith Piaf. The problem with the song, for the sake of this article, is that the “rose” in La Vie in Rose more likely refers to the color pink than the flower. And I agree La Vie en Rose has a stronger claim on evergreen status than any other tune listed here. I’m sure there are those who would rank La Vie en Rose above The Rose as the #1 Rose song of the last hundred years. But of course in the wild, before mankind got their grubby cultivating hands on them, roses propagated by growing from seeds just like any other plant. That became a common refrain of ridicule against the song among my high school peers. There were those who would cattily slack the song’s lyrical conclusion (“Just remember in the winter – Far beneath the bitter snows – Lies the seed that with the sun’s love – In the spring becomes the rose”) by asserting that roses are cultivated by making cuttings, and are not grown from seeds. I remember hearing it sung again and again at my high school’s musical auditions, music concerts and talent shows. It already sounded like a classic when it came out in 1979. And right off the bat I concede that my bastardization of the famous Shakespeare quote “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2) in this post’s title mangles the original beyond logical comprehension.Ĭan’t not start this rose themed medley without “The Rose”, which is arguably The Rose Song above all. So let’s enjoy some beautiful roses, and since we can’t enjoy their visual splendor accompanied by their sweet smells, we’ll enjoy their sweet sounds in the forms of favorite “Rose” songs from the last hundred years.