Songs for Saturday (a little late): The Rose

[mdlbear]

I'm not sure when or why I fell in love with The Rose; I was reminded of it about a year ago, when I followed a link to LeAnn Rimes performing "The Rose" with The Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles.

I quickly followed more links, and found these performances by Judy Collins and Joan Baez.

And, just for completeness, here's Bette Midler singing the version from the movie that everyone else thinks of. But the song wasn't written for the movie, and it was never sung by Janis Joplin.

Here's the real story, in songwriter Amanda McBroom's own words, and here's Amanda herself singing it. And here's a live performance. I think I like that one best.