About The Song
In 1970, country singer and TV personality Lynn Anderson recorded “Rose Garden” after hearing its original version. However, Anderson’s producer – her husband Glenn Sutton – rejected her recording because he thinks “it was not a girl’s song.”
After much convincing and some extra studio time left, Sutton reconsidered.
“I had objected to it because it was a man’s song, and I didn’t wanna do it, but she kept bringin’ it in with her – she loved it,” he recalled. But they had to rework the track by incorporating an uptempo arrangement that included a string section and mandolin to the first version, which was recorded with a “straight, boring beat.”
After Columbia Records president Clive Davis heard Anderson’s “Rose Garden,” the song was officially released as a single.
And we’re glad they did because Anderson’s version became a big hit.
In the United States, it peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and was a crossover hit after it reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 Adult Contemporary. It was also a major hit, climbing the chart’s top spot in several countries, including Canada, Australia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
The song also helped Anderson earn the Best Female Country Vocal Performance award during the 1971 Grammy Awards.
Video
Lyrics
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden
Along with the sunshine
There’s gotta be a little rain sometime
When you take you gotta give so live and let live or let go
Oh-whoa-whoa-whoa
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden
I could promise you things like big diamond rings
But you don’t find roses growin’ on stalks of clover
So you better think it over
Well, if sweet-talkin’ you could make it come true
I would give you the world right now on a silver platter
But what would it matter
So smile for a while and let’s be jolly
Love shouldn’t be so melancholy
Come along and share the good times while we can
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden
Along with the sunshine
There’s gotta be a little rain some time
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden
I could sing you a tune and promise you the moon
But if that’s what it takes to hold you
I’d just as soon let you go
But there’s one thing I want you to know
You better look before you leap, still waters run deep
And there won’t always be someone there to pull you out
And you know what I’m talking about
So smile for a while and let’s be jolly
Love shouldn’t be so melancholy
Come along and share the good times while we can
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden
Along with the sunshine
There’s gotta be a little rain sometime
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden