“Buy Me a Rose”
Kenny Rogers featuring Alison Krauss and Billy Dean
Written by Jim Funk and Erik Hickenlooper
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
May 5, 2000
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
May 13, 2000
It seemed Kenny Rogers had already beaten the odds in 1999 when his independent single “The Greatest” became his first top thirty country hit in years.
Remarkably, after a second single from She Rides Wild Horses stalled, a quiet ballad about a workaholic husband who is going all “Satin Sheets” on his wife became Rogers’ first No. 1 hit since the eighties. (And gave Alison Krauss and Billy Dean their biggest Billboard radio hits.)
The song took a long time climbing the charts, a fitting journey for a record that’s a slow burn itself. Unlike most songs with a third verse twist, the knowledge that the narrator is singing about his own marriage makes repeated listens all the more poignant. K.T. Oslin’s “Hold Me” is a clear influence here on that front, and this song shares a similar love for its characters. This married couple just needs to find each other again, and all of their individual worries will be fine.
Kenny Rogers wouldn’t have another big country radio hit, but he’d remain a bona fide touring superstar and enduring pop culture icon until his death in 2020 at the age of 81. You can read all about his rich legacy here.
“Buy Me a Rose” gets an A.
Every No. 1 Single of the 2000s
Previous: George Strait, “The Best Day” |
A very good song. Probably a “B+”. It’s such a shame that country radio cut off the legends from the 70’s by this time. Some (not all) were still making great records. This is only one example.
They had cut off 70s artists well before the oughts. The only 70s veteran to be a regular hitmaker after 1992 was Tanya Tucker, probably because she was in the same age range as her contemporaries at that point. Even many early 80s artists struggled.
It was refreshing at the dawn of the new millennium to see a country legend overcome the ageism so prevalent in the music business and get all the way to #1, particularly with an above average song that had a quiet, poignant energy. Kenny conveys these lyrics with an appropriate elder statesman authority and gives the marital lesson he’s imparting more gravitas than it would have had if a 25-year-old artist had tried to pull it off. And 2000 also seemed to be the year of backing vocalists impressively supplementing the material as Alison Krauss really shines here. Billy Dean’s cameo hits well too, but I think it’s awfully generous to give him a credit based on his contribution here.
You’re right that Kenny never had another “hit” on radio, but he made the countdown charts at least three more times in the 2000s thanks to the momentum from “Buy Me a Rose”. “I Can’t Unlove You” made it to #17 in 2006, which is dancing on the edge of what I’d consider to qualify as a radio hit.
In my last review, I said I got to see Charley Pride at my county fair in 2012. Coincidentally, the very next year I got to see Kenny Rogers in concert at the fair. He was excellent too. Now that my fair is booking more legacy acts than contemporary crooners (Ricky Skaggs returned last year), there are plenty of legends I’m still hoping to see who I don’t believe have retired yet. Crystal Gayle and John Conlee are the top of my list.
Grade: B+
Decent song, with especially lovely harmony work from Krauss and Dean, though I must admit I think I liked The Greatest even more. That said, always nice to see a legacy artist make a radio comeback (I doubt we’d ever see it in the current radio/streaming climate).
I had not listened to this song in years, but man Kenny and Alison sounded incredible together. RIP to a legend.
What a triumph it was for this song to top the charts. Willie Nelson would break the record with Beer For My Horses, but at the time Kenny Rogers was the oldest artist to score a #1 hit. Such a beautiful song and I always loved that Alison Krauss and Billy Dean received a fair bit of credit on this song.
I’ve always regarded Rogers as a pop star who crossed over into country and if you listen to his so-called country hits, only a few were very country at all.
He recorded a lot of songs I didn’t like at all – I regard “Islands In The Stream” as pure schlock and songs like “You Decorated My Life” as being as bland as anything that ever charted on the country charts
BUT, when he got it right, he really got it right. Even in his later years he hit some home runs such as “The Greatest” and this song. This was a solid “A” – think Alison Krauss’ contribution moved this up from a decent ballad worth a “B” into something special.
Absolutely love this song! The melody is still one of the prettiest ones I’ve heard, Kenny and Alison Krauss sound wonderful together, and I love the timeless theme of love being more important than money and material things. The bridge and final chorus when it’s revealed that Kenny is singing about his own marriage and promises to make things better always gets me teary eyed, especially. I love the way he sings “This is a story of you….and me” with noticeably more regret in his voice as he gets to the “and me” part and last chorus. Billy Dean’s cameo at the end with his “rest of your liiiife” part always made me smile, as well, since it had been a while since I’d heard anything new from him by 2000, but recognized his voice instantly as someone who enjoyed his music since I was little in the early 90s. Also love Bruce Bouton’s pretty steel guitar parts in the second verse. I agree with another comment above that this song with its message and storytelling elements was made even more effective coming from Kenny Rogers in his 60s.
At the time, I was simply amazed and excited that this song was doing so well on country radio, and having also enjoyed “The Greatest” the year before, it was pretty neat that Kenny Rogers was suddenly relevant again and being played alongside the much younger and newer artists at the time. This was also one of the newer songs that I always knew my mom wouldn’t mind hearing since it was coming from an artist from an era of country that she liked better. She would even sometimes sing along to it whenever it came on. For me, the last time I had heard anything new from Kenny before 1999 was “If You Want To Find Love” in early 1992. Part of what made listening to country radio in the late 90s and early 2000s more exciting and interesting for me was the sudden return of veteran artists I had not heard as much on the radio since the early 90s when I was little, such as Randy Travis, Steve Wariner, George Jones, and now Kenny Rogers had joined that list. I actually remember thinking I was hearing one of Kenny’s past hits when I first heard “The Greatest” in my dad’s car until I eventually found out it was a new release. I also love that one and it’s unique take on the baseball theme. Looking back, it seems fitting that it was this era that Rogers made his surprise comeback, since the sound of mainstream country had moved again towards a more polished, slicker contemporary country style not too much unlike the Urban Cowboy era in the 80s which he thrived in. The irony was that some of Kenny’s new songs actually sounded a lot more country than many of the new releases from younger artists. Kenny himself made that same observation on a country countdown show in 2000 which he was a featured guest on, saying that he used to get complaints of not being “country enough” in the 70s and 80s but now he was considered traditional country compared to some newer artists.
Speaking of Kenny’s 80s music, my step dad bought an 80s country compilation CD at the York Galleria Mall in York, PA in 2000, which we always enjoyed listening to while driving though Pennsylvania on trips throughout that year. One of the tracks was “Crazy” by Kenny Rogers, which I always really enjoyed hearing, despite it being more AC than country. That CD was actually part of what got me even more interested 80s country.
I just found out that the single that didn’t do as well in between “The Greatest” and “Buy Me A Rose” was “Slow Dance More,” which is surprising, since it’s very catchy and another one of my favorites off the She Rides Wild Horses album. I also really love the follow up album he released, There You Go Again. I remember “He Will, She Knows” and the title cut getting airplay and him even performing “There You Go Again” at the 2001 ACM Awards.
I always enjoyed seeing the music video for “Buy Me A Rose” on GAC around this time, and I especially love the beach at sunset location during the last part of the song takes place in as Kenny gives his actual wife in real life a rose.
Oh, and once again, I love the comparison to K.T. Oslin’s “Hold Me.” That’s actually another 80s country gem I rediscovered in the year 2000 while going through many of the tapes I recorded off the radio back in early 1991. I also enjoy K.T.’s own surprise comeback album from 2001, Live Close By, Visit Often.
…he bent over backwards when opening the door for her and a single flower would have done the job? quite a looping even for a songwriter named hickenlooper.
making an 80s hit (in style and sound) one that appears only two decades later atop of the scoreboard would even impress a longhitter like mr. dechambeau here and now.
After the opportunity to celebrate his tremendous run of hits in the ’80s feature, this beautiful song, in both message and sound, is the perfect cherry on the top of his chart success.
I love how quiet and gentle the song is.