My 100 Favorite Charted Country Songs: Bed of Rose’s

Tweet

It’s controversy time! Not because this song made the list (most of you who like country music would be shocked if these guys hadn’t shown up at one point), but for lyrical content. I’ll explain as I delve into today’s song from my list of 100 favorite charted country singles. Bed of Rose’s - Statler Brothers When this song came out in 1970 I loved it. My parents didn’t love that I loved it. They didn’t think it was appropriate for a ten-year-old kid to be listening to a song about a relationship between the 18-year-old narrator and the 35-year-old hooker. What did I know? I had no idea what the Dallas Frazier song “The Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp” was about. Back then, to my childhood mind, tramp was a Disney dog. Similarly, I took the title as the literal “bed of roses” instead of the way it was written (as a play on that phrase) with the apostrophe. Of course, the song also takes jabs at religious folks “who would go to church but left me in the street” when it came to the homeless youngster. Not the first time that had happened in country music (the great Harlan Howard wrote a song called “Sunday Morning Christian” that didn’t get much airplay because it stepped on too many toes of the country audience, who in the 60s were generally more conservative and evangelical). All five members of the Statlers (original member Lew Dewitt [right, with guitar, in the screen grab] had to leave the group due to Crohn’s disease in the early 80s, and it took his life in 1991) are/were (bass singer Harold Reid is also deceased) committed Christians, but they could call ‘em like they saw ‘em. As a result, this song was quite controversial in its time (as was the follow-up song, “New York City,” about a guy who abandoned his pregnant girlfriend so she went to the Big Apple to live with her sister). Now, you’re probably wondering what the fuss was about lyrically. I loved it then, and I love it now. Bed of Rose’s Written by Harold Reid Recorded by the Statler Brothers From Bed of Rose’s, 1970 Peak chart position: #9 (also reached #58 on the pop chart) Today’s rock song: “An American Dream” I never had a home: