“Rose Garden”
Lynn Anderson
Written by Joe South
Billboard
#1 (3 weeks)
December 26, 1970 – January 23, 1971
Lynn Anderson’s ridiculously catchy “Rose Garden” ends the first year of the decade with yet another signature hit that still endures today.
Linda Ronstadt had already demonstrated the power of a simple gender switch to transform a folk song into something fitting for the budding women’s right era. “Rose Garden” takes a page from the “Different Drum” playbook, transforming a fairly patronizing lyric into one that’s more balanced because it’s coming from the woman in 1970.
That the gender swap is still detectable today to modern ears indicates how far that movement still needs to go, but “Rose Garden” got something else in motion that has persevered. Lynn Anderson cracked the Hollywood circuit with this record, opening up the late night shows and variety stages to pop-flavored country artists who combined pop hooks with country sentiments. This is the blueprint for everything from “Let Me Be There” to “Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue.”
There’s a reason that the Loretta/Tammy Female Vocalist domination during the first seven years of the CMA was interrupted once by Lynn Anderson, and that reason is “Rose Garden.” But she’s got a lot of other great records coming up that prove she’s much more than just this deliriously delightful confection.
“Rose Garden” gets an A.
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Yes, another “A+” Song. I also find it interesting to be at the same time as “Coal Miners Daughter” showing that traditional and pop country can co-exist on radio. I am normally much more of a lyric person but this song’s melody and production is what really sells this fantastic record.
For whatever reason, it had never crossed my mind in the past that this song was likely written for a male vocalist, but certainly with the reference to “diamond rings”, it definitely seems likely that that was the intention. The record would definitely have a different vibe if Charlie Rich was singing it! Thankfully, Lynn Anderson got her hands on it and knocked it out of the park. Even before I formally knew the song, when they used to advertise country hits compilation records on vinyl or cassette back on the 80s, I enjoyed the snippet of this song that accompanied the album advertising. Once I heard the whole song in context, I became even more of a fan.
I’d long heard that Lynn Anderson was from Minnesota, which makes sense given the surname, but her biography shows Grand Forks, North Dakota, which is right across the river. I have relatives in northwestern Minnesota and when we visited, we went to Grand Forks for shopping trips. Anyway, I don’t think I ever assumed Lynn Anderson was a “one-hit wonder”, but I also had no idea that she had a 20-year hitmaking career. It’s astonishing, and a bit depressing, that her legacy of 18 top-10 hits and and 14 additional top-20s has been reduced to this song, good as it is.
Grade: A