The Rose

"The Rose" is a pop song written by Amanda McBroom. Bette Midler made the song famous when she recorded it for her 1979 film The Rose, in which it plays during the closing credits. It has been recorded multiple times, including by Conway Twitty and Westlife who had US Country & Western and UK number one hits with the song, respectively. Nana Mouskouri recorded a German version (Die Rose), also in 1980, as well as an English version. Background and Bette Midler version "The Rose" was first recorded by Bette Midler for the soundtrack of the 1979 film The Rose, in which it plays under the closing credits. However, the song was not written for the movie: Amanda McBroom recalls, "I wrote it in 1977 [or] 1978, and I sang it occasionally in clubs. ... Jim Nabors had a local talk show, and I sang ["The Rose"] on his show once." According to McBroom, she wrote "The Rose" in response to her manager's suggestion that she write "some Bob Seger-type tunes" to expedite a record deal: McBroom obliged by writing "The Rose" in 45 minutes. Said McBroom: "'The Rose' is ... just one verse [musically] repeated three times. When I finished it, I realized it doesn't have a bridge or a hook, but I couldn't think of anything to [add]." McBroom's composition was one of seven songs selected by Midler from thirty song possibilities proffered by Paul A. Rothchild, the producer of The Rose soundtrack album. Reportedly Rothchild had listened to over 3,000 songs in order to assemble those thirty possibilities. Released as the second single from The Rose soundtrack album, "The Rose" hit number 1 on the Cashbox Top 100 and peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Additionally, it was number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for five weeks running. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA for over a million copies sold in the United States.