About The Song
“Room Full of Roses” is a poignant country ballad by Mickey Gilley, released in April 1974 as a single from his album of the same name on Playboy Records, initially as the B-side to “She Called Me Baby.” Written by Tim Spencer, it was first recorded by George Morgan in 1949, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard country chart, with a Sons of the Pioneers version hitting No. 10 that year. Gilley’s cover became his first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, charting for 16 weeks, and crossed over to No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100, launching his career. The 2:47 track, with its aching lyrics—“If I sent a rose to you / For every time you made me blue / You’d have a room full of roses”—conveys heartbreak, as the narrator likens his pain to a room filled with roses for each betrayal. Gilley’s smooth, bluesy delivery, influenced by cousin Jerry Lee Lewis, carries a “wry yet heartfelt” sincerity, per Amazon. He told Country Music magazine, “I didn’t even like the cut—too much steel guitar echo—but it took off.”
Recorded in 1973 at a Houston studio for Astro Records, the track was produced by Eddie Kilroy, with uncredited players likely including local Texas musicians, per Discogs. The arrangement features prominent steel guitar and piano, though Gilley got lost during the piano interlude, yet synced back with the band, as Web:1⁊ notes. Initially meant for Houston jukeboxes after Minnie Elerick, a Gilley’s nightclub employee, requested “She Called Me Baby,” the song’s popularity led Playboy Records to distribute it nationally. The album Room Full of Roses hit No. 5 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The G-C-D chord progression and “I want my arms around you” refrain, per Ultimate-Guitar, made it a honky-tonk staple. AllMusic praises its “old-school cheatin’ song vibe,” cementing Gilley’s breakout.
Mickey Gilley, born March 9, 1936, in Natchez, Mississippi, was a pianist and singer whose Gilley’s Club in Pasadena, Texas, inspired Urban Cowboy (1980), boosting country’s pop culture reach. Starting in the 1950s Louisiana club scene, he hit big in the 1970s with 17 No. 1 country singles, later adopting a pop-friendly sound. “Room Full of Roses” was a live favorite, performed at his 1974 Gilley’s shows and a 1980 Branson, Missouri, set, with a YouTube clip capturing his charm. Covers include Jim Reeves (1960), Dean Martin (1963), and Ferlin Husky (1973), per SecondHandSongs. Reddit fans on r/country and X posts call it “a dancefloor classic,” ideal for two-stepping. It appeared in no major films but thrives on Spotify and Smule karaoke.
No controversies surround the song—just Gilley’s rise from honky-tonks to stardom, though he died May 7, 2022, at 86. CMT quoted him in 2015: “That song was my ticket out of the shadows.” A timeless heartbreak ballad, “Room Full of Roses” defined Gilley’s career and remains a country standard for its raw emotion and danceable melancholy.
Video
Mickey Gilley – Room Full of Roses (YouTube)
Lyric
If I sent a rose to you
For every time you made me blue
You’d have a room full of roses
And if I sent a rose of white
For every time I cried all night
You’d have a room full of rosesAnd if I took the petals
I would tear them all apart
I’d be tearing at the roses
Just the way you broke my heartIf someday you’re feeling blue
And you could send a rose, maybe two
Don’t send me a room full of roses
But I want my arms around youAnd if I took the petals
I would tear them all apart
I’d be tearing at the roses
Just the way you broke my heartIf someday you’re feeling blue
And you could send a rose, maybe two
Don’t send me a room full of roses
But I want my arms around you