The Rose - by Amanda McBroom

[Steel2Velvet]

Since first hearing Bette Midler's arrangement of The Rose, I have felt these rank with some of the finest poetic lyrics put to music. Here is the story of the song's birth.

The Rose

Some say love, it is a river

That drowns the tender reed

Some say love, it is a razor

That leaves your soul to bleed

Some say love, it is a hunger

An endless aching need

I say love, it is a flower

And you, it's only seed.

It's the heart afraid of breaking

That never learns to dance

It's the dream afraid of waking

That never takes the chance

It's the one who won't be taken

Who cannot seem to give

And the soul afraid of dying

That never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely

And the road has been too long

And you think that love is only

For the lucky and the strong;

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.

In the words of Amanda McBroom:

"A song came on the radio. It was ?MAGDALENA? by Danny O?Keefe, sung by Leo Sayer.

I liked it immediately. My favorite line was ?You?re love is like a razor. My heart is just a scar.? I thought,?Ooh, I love that lyric, but don't agree with the sentiment that love is a razor.? As I continued to drive down the road the thought came, "What, then, do I think love is?" Suddenly, it was as if someone had opened a window in the top of my head. Words came pouring in. I had to keep reciting them to myself as I drove faster and faster towards home, so I wouldn?t forget them. I screeched into my driveway, ran into the house, past various bewildered dogs and cats and husbands, and sat down at the piano. Ten minutes later, THE ROSE was there. A year or so later, a professional songwriter friend of mine said, ?Listen. There is this movie coming out called ?The Rose?, based on the life of Janis Joplin. They are looking for a title tune. Do you want me to submit this to them?? I had never really tried to submit a song to anyone. I didn?t consider myself a songwriter at the time. So I said, ?Sure.? The producers hated it. They thought it was dull and not rock and roll and totally wrong. They put it in the reject box. But Paul Rothchild, who had been Janis Joplin?s producer, and now the music supervisor on the film, hauled it out and asked them to reconsider. They again said no. So he mailed it to Bette Midler, the star of the movie. She liked it, lobbied in favor of it; and that?s how it got into the film and changed my life forever."