Remember When Elvis Costello Recorded One of George Jones’ Biggest Hits in 1981?

In 1970, George Jones released “A Good Year For The Roses”. The song, written by Jerry Chesnut, is on his George Jones With Love album.

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A Top 5 single, the heartbreaking song says, “But what a good year for the roses / Many blooms still linger there / The lawn could stand another mowing / It’s funny, I don’t even care And when you turned to walk away / And as the door behind you closes / The only thing I know to say / It’s been a good year for the roses.”

When “A Good Year For The Roses” was released, Elvis Costello had just turned 16. But in 1981, Costello put his own spin on “A Good Year For The Roses”. The song, which Costello recorded as “Good Year For The Roses”, became a Top 10 pop hit for him. Costello’s version appears on Costello’s sixth studio album, Almost Blue.

The Story Behind “A Good Year For The Roses” by George Jones and Elvis Costello

Chesnut was becoming established as a successful songwriter by the time Jones released “A Good Year For The Roses”. His previous cuts include “Another Place, Another Time” by Del Reeves and later Jerry Lee Lewis, “If Not For You” by Jones, and others. The song was inspired by Chesnut purchasing a home in Tennessee, where he planted Hybrid Tea Roses.

Due to the extremely wet weather, his beloved flowers died. Chesnut remembers being told, “It’s just not been a good year for roses.” The phrase became the unlikely beginning of “A Good Year for The Roses”.

“I got to thinking about those roses,” Chesnut recounts. “‘I wonder if they’d have done good if I’d brought them out here? … What if it’d been a good year for roses, but everything else was going to pot? If the man’s wife was leaving, the baby’s crying, and the dog’s died? The whole world’s going to pot, but the roses are just blooming like crazy.’ I just started writing the song like that.”

Although Costello was not a country singer, his Almost Blue record had a sticker on it that said, “This album contains Country & Western music and may cause offense to narrow-minded listeners.” 

 “That was (label boss) Jake Riviera’s idea. He liked to be provocative,” Costello says.” That sticker really made me laugh. I remember early on listening to a tape of country music while [Costello’s band] The Attractions were on tour, when a journalist was about to come on the bus for an interview. Somebody said, ‘Don’t let them hear you playing country.’ They were serious, because they were worried it would pin me down with being something to do with music before 1977. Which was nonsense. But that was the climate back then.”

In 1994, Jones released a duet version of “A Good Year For The Roses” with Alan Jackson.

Photo by Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images