(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden (1970)

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Download MP3s from Amazon.com:

• Lynn Anderson - (I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden (MP3)
• Joe South - (I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden (MP3)

By: Lynn Anderson (born Lynn Rene Anderson September 26, 1947 in Grand Forks, North Dakota.)

In 1970, Anderson moved to Nashville, Tennessee and signed with Columbia Records. She was determined to record "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden". Columbia didn't think it was an appropriate song for a female to sing.

While in the studio, there was just enough time left in the session to record the song; had it not been for that, Anderson later said, the song would have never been recorded. It became the biggest hit of her career and her signature song.

In 1971, she won the Grammy award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the song. Joe South also won a Grammy as the song's writer.

In 1971, The album Rose Garden was released, selling over a million copies in the US, and was the biggest selling country album by a female for 24 years.

The American Rose Society named a rose after her: the Lynn Anderson rose.

Chart position: #3 (US), #1 (US Country, 5 weeks), #5 (US Adult Contemporary), #1 (UK).

It was preceded at #1 (US Country) by "Coal Miner's Daughter" (Loretta Lynn) and succeeded by "Flesh and Blood" (Johnny Cash).

The Top Ten Songs: February 13, 1971 (US Billboard Hot 100).

1. "One Bad Apple" (Osmonds)
2. "Knock Three Times" (Tony Orlando and Dawn)
3. "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" (Lynn Anderson)
4. "I Hear You Knocking" (Dave Edmunds)
5. "Lonely Days" (Bee Gees)
6. "My Sweet Lord"/"Isn't It A Pity" (George Harrison)
7. "Groove Me" (King Floyd)
8. "Your Song" (Elton John)
9. "If I Were Your Woman" (Gladys Knight and the Pips)
10. "Mama's Pearl" (Jackson 5)

Written by: Joe South (born Joseph Alfred Souter February 28, 1940 in Atlanta, Georgia.)

Joe South wrote such songs as "Down in the Boondocks", "Hush", "Yo-Yo", "Don't It Make You Wanna Go Home", "Walk a Mile in My Shoes", and "Games People Play" (a Top 10 hit for South in the US and UK that won two Grammy awards, for Best Contemporary Song and Song of the Year.)

South was also a session guitarist, who played guitar on Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools", Tommy Roe's "Sheila", and the electric guitar part added to Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" (the original recording was just Simon & Garfunkel singing, with Paul Simon on acoustic guitar.)

The title was taken from the bestselling 1964 novel I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, written under the pen name of Hannah Green by author Joanne Greenberg (born 1932 in Brooklyn, New York). It was adapted into a 1977 movie and a 2004 play of the same name.

Also by: Dobie Gray (1969); Johnny Mathis (1971); Loretta Lynn (1971); Andy Williams (1971); Martina McBride, whose version was a Top 20 (US Country) hit in 2005; Pete Fountain; Jim Nabors; Percy Faith; Lawrence Welk; Buddy Merrill; Boots Randolph.

Originally by: Joe South, whose version was released on his debut 1969 album Introspect, but wasn't successful.

Download MP3s from Amazon.com:

• Lynn Anderson - (I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden (MP3)
• Joe South - (I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden (MP3)

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