A High Priest’s Tender Gospel: The Eternal Power of Unselfish Love
In the long, storied history of country music, few artists possessed the commanding, yet utterly tender, vocal presence of Conway Twitty. Nicknamed “The High Priest of Country Music,” Twitty spent his decades-long career perfecting the art of the intimate, often suggestive, love ballad. Yet, in 1983, he tackled a song whose fame already preceded it, an anthem of universal affection and enduring beauty: “The Rose.”
This masterful recording, released in January 1983 from his album Dream Maker, proved yet again that Conway Twitty had a golden ear for a hit, even if it originated far from Nashville’s honky-tonk circuit. His version was a resounding commercial triumph, soaring straight to Number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in March 1983, and simultaneously topping the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart. It became Twitty’s 30th career chart-topper on the U.S. country charts, cementing his status as one of the most prolific hitmakers in the genre’s history.
The real story behind Twitty’s rendition is one of clever reinvention. The song itself was penned by the brilliant songwriter Amanda McBroom and famously popularized by Bette Midler in 1980 for the film of the same name. Midler’s version was a huge crossover smash, deeply rooted in the pop ballad tradition. For Twitty and his longtime producer, Jimmy Bowen, the challenge was to take a song already beloved and make it authentically country—and authentically Conway.
They succeeded spectacularly by employing a signature Twitty touch: the spoken-word opening. While the Midler original opens with a gentle, piano-driven vocal, Twitty’s version begins with that unmistakable, low-register rumble. It’s as if he’s pulling you close to the radio speaker—or, in our time, the turntable—and offering a deeply personal, whispered confession. The line, “Some say love, it is a river / That drowns the tender reed,” delivered with that quiet, world-weary gravitas, instantly anchors the soaring, almost philosophical lyrics in the down-to-earth emotional landscape of country storytelling. This spoken word technique became so integral to his style that it’s almost impossible to hear the song in his voice without recalling the comforting intimacy of his delivery.
The meaning of “The Rose” is timeless and profound, but in Twitty’s hands, it takes on an added layer of experience. It addresses the cynical view of love—as a razor, a river, or a hunger—and counters each with the image of the rose, a symbol of resilient, unselfish giving. For listeners of a certain age, who have seen love at its highest and lowest, who have felt the sting of the “razor” and the comfort of the “shelter,” this song acts as a beautiful affirmation. It suggests that true love is not a fleeting pleasure, but the slow-growing, enduring faith that perseveres through winter’s cold. When Twitty sings, “The one who won’t be afraid to take chances / Will be the one who will be the last to fall,” it feels less like a performance and more like sage, hard-won wisdom from a man who had dedicated his career to singing about the complexities of the human heart. It is, ultimately, a magnificent piece of crossover artistry that proves a truly great song can bloom just as beautifully in the fields of Nashville as it can on the grand stage of a Hollywood soundtrack.