8. Bed of Roses (3:19) Words & Music by Rex Benson & Steve Gillette

Another co-write with Rex Benson. An unabashed love song. First recorded by Mel Tillis, then the Oak Ridge Boys, but best known by Kenny Rogers. Another favorite version features Linda Ronstadt in a duet with Moondi Klein and the group Chesapeake.

A lot of our songs are based on similarly well-worn sayings: "Glass Houses," "Healing Hands," "The Restless Wind," "Tell Tale Heart," "The Test of Time," "The Ways of the World," etc. It's clear that we were aiming at a big target — the country music audience and the stars who made the records for them.

Which brings me to one of the themes I wanted to touch on in our discussion of this song, and that is the old bugaboo of 'selling out.' I used to say I tried to sell my soul but didn't get any offers. Now I don't so much worry about it, instead I concentrate on trying to say what I mean as best I can, and letting the chips fall where they may.

But there is something we talk about quite a bit in the workshops and that is an issue for which I borrowed the term 'spiritual materialism.' By bringing it up, I only mean to say that by using our skills and our gifts for material success we can fall short of something better.

It's one thing to try to be successful, but it may be that the real power a songwriter has is in honoring the best possible communication with the listener. This may require him to abandon the tricks, the guile, the soft soap, the leg pulling and glad handing; all the ways that we might calculate to 'get over' on the listener. It's like using 'the force' to cheat at cards.

(BMI)

Read more on my About the Song website here