Amanda McBroom

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A song I love very much is The Rose, sung by Bette Midler in the movie The Rose.  Until a few minutes ago, I was completely ignorant of who had written the song---I tend to forget that this is the electronic age, whatever that may be, and I can Google things.

It wasn't easy, by I hunted the author down; it turns out that the same person had written both the words and the melody: Amanda McBroom.  She relates the story of how she came to write this song on her own website, and for anyone who has had a major piece of inspiration, this story will strike a familiar chord.

Honestly, it takes a lot of nerve for an ordinary sensitive person --who is not a Country & Western musician--- to write lyrics that are so emotionally loaded; I can write a story---prose---but never verse like this.  But sister Amanda keeps up the onslaught for three stanzas, epic in their power.  Arguably, her song carried that movie into the triumph that it was.  Not everyone loved it, but it touched a vast number of people.

I suppose it's possible to write emotional lyrics to a song without actually feeling them.  In the present case, though, I have to say that the genuineness of Ms McBroom's feelings, the relentless persuasion of her argument, all ring true; it is the lyrics that push the song forward, and the melody is simple, and really takes a back seat.  I can imagine the same lyrics set to a more beautiful melody, but I have my doubts whether it would be a more successful song!

In the last several months, I have been surrounded by friends who have found romance late in life.  Or rather, the people that I'm usually surrounded with have encountered romance, I suppose!  It is a little embarrassing to try to relate to the earnestness of Ms McBroom's lyrics at a personal level; I blush to subscribe to the sentiment that

The night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,

but I have certainly entertained the belief that "... love was only for the lucky and the strong ..."  I think it is this sentence (or clause) that actually hooked me, and I suspect that I'm not alone.  All praise and many cheers to Amanda McBroom, and I hope that this brief excerpt falls under the heading of "fair use", since we're not selling anything!

Addendum:
I wrote this post partly as recompense for attributing the song to Bette Midler herself.  She was merely the performer (though she was instrumental in cementing the position of the song in the movie, which was inspired by Janis Joplin).  But, despite what I have discovered since a few hours ago, it is Bette Midler who is immutably associated in my mind with the song.  I suspect that the song has changed Bette Midler's life as well, and possibly not in entirely happy ways.  When Bette Midler passes on ---and of course, it is possible that she might never die--- I predict that this song will be her epitaph, and what better epitaph could one hope to have?  Bette Midler always blushed when confronted with sentimentality, but looking at her big hits, inside the jovial, brusque facade, there is a sentimental gal!

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