1976 Top Ten Songs: Rose of Cimarron (#6)

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Wow, this is fifty years old?? No, it’s timeless!!! My favorite rock band and my sixth favorite country band come up on the list, as they always will when they fit the theme. While this isn’t traditional country, I still have to say “Linda? No” to this one because I don’t like inducing migraines. Here’s today’s song. #6: Rose of Cimarron - Poco While Poco was still a couple of years away from their commercial success in America, this was their only charted hit in Australia. It was released as a single here, but bombed..worse than most of their other previous singles (which had made it as high as the top 60). I love the backstory (as I usually do): Rusty Young was asked by actor Stuart Margolin (best known for playing Angel on The Rockford Files) to write a “western”-themed song for a project. Young had read about Rose Dunn, who was the lover of Doolin-Dalton gang member George “Bitter Creek” Newcomb (see the Eagles’ Desperado album for a song about him). She was nicknamed “the Rose of Cimarron” in western history. Young turned her legend into a song. Young later said it was the song he was most proud of writing. Fellow Poco member (and co-lead singer on the song [with Timothy Schmit on the bridges]) Paul Cotton said this was his all-time favorite Rusty Young song. Others thought highly of it as well, including Emmylou Harris (who covered it for her album Cimarron) and Sandy Posey. One of the great songs from one of the great albums in the discography of one of the greatest bands of American country-rock. Rose of Cimarron Written by Rusty Young Recorded by Poco From Rose of Cimarron, 1976 Hearts like yours belong following the dawn: