The Rose is the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

to the feature film of the same name starring

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

which was released in 1979.

Background

Midler performs all the songs on the album, with the exception of the instrumental "Camellia". Apart from the title track, the soundtrack was entirely recorded live and also features concert monologues, with Midler portraying the character The Rose, loosely based on blues singer

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

. The soundtrack was produced by Paul A. Rothchild, who in fact also had worked with Joplin on what was to become her final album before her death in 1970, entitled ''

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

'' and released posthumously. Midler's portrayal of The Rose, which was her acting debut, earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 1980 and became the start of her career in movies.

Release and promotion

The first single to be lifted off the soundtrack was Midler's rendition of

Percy Sledge Percy Tyrone Sledge (November 25, 1940 – April 14, 2015) was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song " When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 196 ...

's " When a Man Loves a Woman" which became a moderate chart hit, peaking at #35 on ''

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 ...

s single chart. The studio-recorded title track (written by

Amanda McBroom Amanda McBroom (born August 9, 1947) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Notable among the songs she has written is "The Rose (song), The Rose", which Bette Midler sang in the The Rose (film), film of the same name, and which has been ...

) which closes the album however became a top 3 hit for Midler, and also a #1 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart, and today counts as one of her signature tunes. The alternate single version with orchestral overdubs was not included on the actual soundtrack but later appeared on hits compilations like ''

Experience the Divine ''Experience the Divine: Greatest Hits'' is a compilation album by American singer Bette Midler, featuring many of her best-known songs. The fourteen track compilation was released on Atlantic Records in 1993. While several greatest hits albums w ...

'' along with "When A Man Loves A Woman". One track featured in the movie,

Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and The Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, break ...

's "Fire Down Below", was omitted from the album but Midler recorded a second live version of the song later in 1980 for the soundtrack to her concert documentary '' Divine Madness''. "Keep On Rockin'" was the second

Sammy Hagar Samuel Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose and subsequently launched a successful solo car ...

track Midler recorded, his hard rock track "Red" was featured on her 1977 studio album ''

Broken Blossom ''Broken Blossom'' is the fourth studio album by American singer Bette Midler, her second album release in 1977 and her fifth on the Atlantic Records label. Just as Midler's three previous studio albums ''Broken Blossom'' includes songs from a ...

''. The ''Rose'' soundtrack also included one song that since its original release has become a mainstay in Midler's live repertoire,

Jerry Ragovoy Jordan "Jerry" Ragovoy (September 4, 1930 – July 13, 2011) was an American songwriter and record producer. His best-known composition " Time Is on My Side" (written under the pseudonym of Norman Meade) was made famous by the Rolling Stones, alt ...

's despairing blues ballad "Stay With Me". ''The Rose'' peaked at #12 on Billboard's album chart in the Spring of 1980, making it Midler's bestselling album since 1973's ''

''. The album was digitally remastered and reissued on CD by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

in 1995 but with no bonus tracks.

Track listing

''All tracks recorded live unless otherwise noted'' Side A #"Whose Side Are You On?" (Kenny Hopkins, Charley Williams) - 4:30 #"Midnight In Memphis" (Tony Johnson) - 3:44 #''Concert Monologue'' - 2:22 #" When a Man Loves a Woman" (Calvin Lewis, Andrew Wright) - 5:20 #"Sold My Soul To Rock 'N' Roll" (Gene Pistilli) - 3:42 #"Keep On Rockin'" (

, John Carter) - 4:03 Side B #" Love Me With A Feeling" ( Hudson Whittaker) - 3:54 #"Camellia" (

Steve Hunter Stephen John Hunter (born June 14, 1948) is an American guitarist, primarily a session player. He has worked with Lou Reed and Alice Cooper, acquiring the moniker "The Deacon". Hunter first played with Mitch Ryder's Detroit, beginning a long as ...

) - 3:25 #''Homecoming Monologue'' - 1:23 #" Stay with Me" (

George David Weiss George David Weiss (April 9, 1921 – August 23, 2010) was an American songwriter and arranger, who was a president of the Songwriters Guild of America. He is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography Weiss was born in a Jewish fa ...

) - 5:42 #"

Let Me Call You Sweetheart "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" is a popular song, with music by Leo Friedman and lyrics by Beth Slater Whitson. The song was published in 1910 and was a huge hit for the Peerless Quartet in 1911. A recording by Arthur Clough was very popular the sa ...

" (

Beth Slater Whitson Beth Slater Whitson (December 1, 1879 – April 26, 1930) was an American lyricist. She was born on December 1, 1879, in Goodrich, Tennessee and died on April 26, 1930. She was the daughter of John H. Whitson and Anna Slater Whitson. Her Fathe ...

Leo Friedman Leo Friedman (July 16, 1869 - March 7, 1927) was an American composer of popular music. Friedman was born in Elgin, Illinois and died in Chicago, Illinois. He is best remembered for composing the sentimental waltz "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" w ...

) - 1:35 #" The Rose" (Studio recording - album version) (

) - 3:42

Personnel

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

The Rose Concert Band *

Danny Weis Danny Weis (pronounced ; born September 28, 1948 in Huntington Park, California) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of both Iron Butterfly and Rhinoceros, as well as co-writer of Rhinoceros's only charting single, "Apricot ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* David Campbell -

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

s *

- guitar * Mark Leonard -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Robbie Buchanan - keyboards * Pentti "Whitey" Glan -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Norton Buffalo Phillip Jackson (September 28, 1951 – October 30, 2009), best known as Norton Buffalo, was an American singer-songwriter, country and blues harmonica player, record producer, bandleader and recording artist who was a versatile proponent of t ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

, backing vocals *

Jerry Jumonville Jerome Noel Jumonville (December 5, 1941 – December 7, 2019), better known as Jerry Jumonville, was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll saxophonist, arranger, and composer. He began playing the saxophone as teenager. Jumonv ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

* Mark Underwood -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, musician, arranger, producer, and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the band Chicago from 1981–2009. H ...

- background vocals * Donny Gerrard - background vocals "Love Me With a Feeling" Band * Greg Prestopino -

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

* Bill Elliott -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Jon Sholle -

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

* Scott Chambers - bass *

Harry Stinson Harry Stinson (born June 3, 1953 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian real estate developer from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is president of Stinson Properties, Inc. He has been called Toronto's "condo king". Biography Stinson's most significant ...

- drums "The Rose" Ensemble *

Lincoln Mayorga Lincoln Mayorga (born March 28, 1937) is an American pianist, arranger, conductor and composer who has worked in rock and roll, pop, jazz and classical music. Life and career Pop music in the 1950s and '60s Mayorga was born in Los Angeles, Ca ...

- piano *

- harmony vocals

Production

* Paul A. Rothchild -

Record Producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Musical arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

, remixing * William Gazecki -

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

, Associate Producer, remixing * Bob Leonard - engineer * Roger Mayer - engineer * Stuart Taylor - engineer * John Neal - engineer * Ed Lever - engineer * Recorded by: The Enactron Truck * SMPTE Code Processing by: Canyon Recorders * Remixed at

Elektra Sound Recorders Elektra Sound Recorders was Elektra Records's recording studio in Los Angeles, California, United States located at 962 La Cienega Boulevard. Electric Entertainment currently provides video production services at this location. History In 1958, J ...

by Bill Gazecki, Paul A. Rothchild * Concerts recorded live during June & July 1978 * Stephen Innocenzi - remastering (1995 reissue)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose soundtrack, The Bette Midler soundtracks 1979 soundtrack albums Drama film soundtracks Albums arranged by David Campbell (composer) Albums produced by Paul A. Rothchild Atlantic Records soundtracks