"Bed of Rose's" was a hit song for the country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 vocal group the Statler Brothers

Statler Brothers

The Statler Brothers were an American country music vocal group founded in 1955 in Staunton, Virginia.Originally performing gospel music at local churches, the group billed themselves as The Four Star Quartet, and later The Kingsmen...

. The song, written by bass

Bass (voice type)

A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...

 singer Harold Reid

Harold Reid

Harold Reid is the former bass singer for the country vocal group The Statler Brothers. He wrote or co-wrote 17 songs that were hit singles for the group, including "Bed of Rose's" and the #1 hit "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine." The latter was written with his younger brother, Don Reid, the lead...

, reached its popularity peak in the winter of 1971, eventually reaching the Top 10 of the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Singles chart, peaking at number nine . It also reached #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #51 on the Australian Singles Chart (Go-Set).

Content

It is the story of a young orphaned man in a small town (possibly modeled after the Statlers' hometown of Staunton

Staunton, Virginia

Staunton is an independent city within the confines of Augusta County in the commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 23,746 as of 2010. It is the county seat of Augusta County....

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

) who for some reason has become the subject of disdain on part of the "polite" members of society and who is forced to beg in the streets. His life takes a turn to the better when he is taken in by a prostitute

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

 named Rose who is almost twice his age but whose lover he becomes. The song juxtaposes the hypocrisy

Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie....

 of the nominally Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 townspeople who would "go to church and leave me in the street" and their envy of Rose who "managed a lady of the evening business / like most of the town wished they could do" with the care and tender love that evolves between the two outcasts, the prostitute and the young man. As such, the song is both a not so gentle challenge of narrowminded religion and moralism and a gentle celebration of love, in some ways not unlike the theme of (the Gospel of) Luke

Gospel of Luke

The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...

 7:36-50. The title of "Bed of Rose's" is, like some of the other Statler Brothers' works, a play on words - in this case on the common English idiom "bed of roses

Bed of roses

Bed of roses is an English expression, which means an easy and peaceful life. Most likely based on a rose representing happiness and love, so a bed of roses would represent a very happy life, e.g., "Just because you sleep on a bed of roses," meaning "Just because you've got an easy life."The...

", which means an easy and pleasant life.

In popular culture

The song is featured on the soundtrack of the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall...

, and is on the K-Rose radio station in the game.

Chart performance

Chart (1970–1971)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	9
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	58
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	3
Canadian RPM Top Singles	86