Bed of Rose's

"Bed of Rose's" was a hit song for the country music vocal group the Statler Brothers. The song, written by bass singer Harold Reid, reached its popularity peak in the winter of 1971, eventually reaching the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, peaking at number nine ^[1]. It also reached #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #51 on the Australian Singles Chart (Go-Set).

Content

It is the story of a young orphaned man in a small town (possibly modeled after the Statlers' hometown of Staunton, Virginia) who for some reason has become the subject of disdain on part of the "polite" members of society and who is forced to beg in the streets. His life takes a turn to the better when he is taken in by a prostitute named Rose who is almost twice his age but whose lover he becomes. The song juxtaposes the hypocrisy of the nominally Christian townspeople who would "go to church and leave me in the street" and their envy of Rose who "managed a lady of the evening business / like most of the town wished they could do" with the care and tender love that evolves between the two outcasts, the prostitute and the young man. As such, the song is both a not so gentle challenge of narrowminded religion and moralism and a gentle celebration of love, in some ways not unlike the theme of (the Gospel of) Luke 7:36-50. The title of "Bed of Rose's" is, like some of the other Statler Brothers' works, a play on words - in this case on the common English idiom "bed of roses", which means an easy and pleasant life.

In popular culture

The song is featured on the soundtrack of the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and is on the K-Rose radio station in the game.

Chart performance

References