"Roses Are Red (My Love)" is a

popular song Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Funk ...

composed by Al Byron and Paul Evans. It was recorded by

Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert "Bobby" Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is a American former singer and occasional actor, who also hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid trib ...

, backed by Robert Mersey and his Orchestra, in New York City in February 1962, and released in April 1962, and the song was his first hit."Bobby Vinton's All-Time Greatest Hits," Varese (Vintage) Sarabande CD compilation, copyright 2003

Bobby Vinton version

Bobby Vinton found the song in a reject pile at

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. He first recorded it as an R&B number, but was allowed to re-record it in a slower more dramatic arrangement, with strings and a vocal choir (from Robert Mersey and his Orchestra) added."Bobby Vinton's All-Time Greatest Hits," Varese (Vintage) Sarabande CD compilation, copyright 2003 The song was released in April 1962.

Alan Levy Alan Levy (10 February 1932 – 2 April 2004) was an American author. Life Alan Levy was born in New York City in 1932 and educated at Brown and Columbia universities. In 1952 at Brown, he co-wrote an original Brownbrokers musical titled ''Any ...

,
A dozen red roses - to disc jockeys
, ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'', March 12, 1965. p. 89 It reached No. 1 in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, and the United States, and was a major hit in many other countries as well. The song topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart on July 14, 1962, and remained there for four weeks.Hot 100 - Bobby Vinton Roses Are Red Chart History
''Billboard.com''. Retrieved March 19, 2018. The single was also the first number-one hit for

. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' ranked the record No. 4 in their year end ranking " Top 100 Singles of 1962"Top 100 Singles of 1962
, ''

'', Section II, December 29, 1962. p. 82. Retrieved February 24, 2018. and No. 36 in their year end ranking of the top Rhythm and Blues records of 1962.The Top 50 Country Music and Rhythm & Blues Records of 1962
, ''

'', Section II, December 29, 1962. p. 88. Retrieved March 19, 2018. The song was also ranked No. 17 on ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

''s "Top 100 Chart Hits of 1962".

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Ronnie Carroll version

In the UK, a cover version by

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

singer

Ronnie Carroll Ronnie Carroll (born Ronald Cleghorn; 18 August 1934 – 13 April 2015) was a Northern Irish singer, entertainer and political candidate. Career Carroll was born Ronald Cleghorn in 116 Roslyn Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1934, the son o ...

reached No. 3 on the ''

Record Retailer ''Record Retailer'' was the only music trade newspaper for the UK record industry. It was founded in August 1959 as a monthly newspaper covering both labels and dealers. Its founding editor was Roy Parker (who died on 27 December 1964). The title ...

'' chart on August 8, 1962, the same week that the

record peaked at No. 15.Ronnie Carroll- Full Official Chart History
''

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

''. Accessed October 13, 2015Bobby Vinton - Full Official Chart History
''

''. Accessed October 13, 2015 It peaked at No. 7 in the very first

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

published in September 1962.

Chart performance

Other versions

In July 1962,

David MacBeth David MacBeth (born 1935) is an English pop music singer. Despite releasing a string of singles on three record labels between 1959 and 1969, MacBeth's only chart success was with his version of " Mr. Blue", which peaked at number 18 in the UK Si ...

released his version of the song as a single on

Piccadilly Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brother ...

. The song was recorded by

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman ...

in 1963 and released on the album ''Gentleman Jim'', one of the last albums released while he was still alive. The song was covered by

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

an female artist Zhuang Xue Fang (莊雪芳), in edited

Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern Standar ...

lyrics written by Suyin (舒雲/雨牛) under title name of 玫瑰花香, with Ruby Records in 1967. In 1962, an

answer song An answer song, response song or answer record, is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...

, entitled "Long as the Rose Is Red", was recorded by Florraine Darlin. The song spent seven weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, reaching No. 62, while reaching No. 15 on ''

''s

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart. It was released by

(single #9529)Late Pop Spotlights
, ''

'', August 4, 1962. p. 10. Retrieved March 20, 2018. and was also produced by Robert Morgan.

References

{{Authority control 1962 singles Bobby Vinton songs Wednesday (band) songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in South Africa Songs written by Paul Evans (musician) 1962 songs Epic Records singles

Bobby Vinton version

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Ronnie Carroll version

Chart performance

Other versions

See also

References