In 1975, Linda Ronstadt turned a song Neil Young had recorded and then left on the shelf into a Top 5 hit.
“Love Is a Rose,” written by Young, was released as a single by Ronstadt on Aug. 19, 1975, and appeared on her sixth studio album Prisoner in Disguise. The song ultimately climbed to No. 5 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart.
But Ronstadt wasn’t the first person to record it. Young had already cut his own version the year before for an album that wouldn’t see the light of day for decades.
Neil Young Wrote ‘Love Is a Rose’ for a Shelved Album
Young recorded “Love Is a Rose” in 1974 for Homegrown, an intensely personal album he ultimately decided not to release at the time.
Ronstadt’s rendition therefore arrived before listeners had the chance to hear the songwriter’s own recording. Young’s “Love Is a Rose” finally appeared on his 1977 compilation Decade, two years after Ronstadt made the song a hit.
The story took another twist decades later. Homegrown, the album Young had originally intended “Love Is a Rose” for, remained unreleased until 2020, some 45 years after Ronstadt’s version arrived.
The song itself had even deeper roots in Young’s catalog. Its melody came from “Dance, Dance, Dance,” an earlier Young composition recorded by Crazy Horse in 1971.
Linda Ronstadt and Neil Young Had a Long Musical History
Ronstadt’s connection with Young went back years before “Love Is a Rose.”
She and James Taylor famously supplied backing vocals on Young’s 1972 album Harvest, including his only No. 1 hit, “Heart of Gold,” as well as “Old Man.”
Ronstadt later recalled that she, Young and Taylor had all been appearing on The Johnny Cash Show when Young invited them to join him in the studio.
“I remember singing all night long and never getting bored,” Ronstadt told Ultimate Classic Rock of the session. “I love Neil’s music.”
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Their musical relationship continued on the road. Ronstadt opened for Young during his Time Fades Away tour in 1973, an experience she later credited with giving her valuable exposure as her own career was beginning to take off.
Young remembered Ronstadt’s performances rather enthusiastically.
“I was very lucky to have Linda opening for me on the Time Fades Away tour,” Young wrote in his autobiography “Waging Heavy Peace.” “She was dynamite.”
By the time “Love Is a Rose” was released two years later, Ronstadt was no longer simply an up-and-coming opening act. Her 1974 album Heart Like a Wheel had made her one of the biggest singers in America, producing her first No. 1 hit, “You’re No Good.”
‘Love Is a Rose’ Became a Top 5 Hit for Linda Ronstadt
Ronstadt gave “Love Is a Rose” a country arrangement for Prisoner in Disguise, the platinum-selling follow-up to Heart Like a Wheel.
The song reached No. 5 on Billboard’s country chart, but its unusual chart history didn’t end there.
“Love Is a Rose” was backed with Ronstadt’s cover of Martha and the Vandellas’ “Heat Wave.” Pop radio gravitated toward the B-side instead, and “Heat Wave” went on to become a No. 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Love Is a Rose” itself appeared on the Hot 100, reaching No. 63, meaning the two sides of the same single found markedly different audiences. Ronstadt also made “Love Is a Rose” a regular part of her concerts during the 1970s.
Her admiration for Young continued long after the song became a hit. The two reunited musically years later, with Ronstadt contributing vocals to Young’s work again, including his 1992 album Harvest Moon.
And Young’s admiration for Ronstadt appears to have been every bit as strong.
“She is a master,” Young wrote in “Waging Heavy Peace,” praising the effect Ronstadt’s voice had on his recordings. “When she came to Broken Arrow and sang on my records, she elevated everything she touched.”
Elsewhere in the book, Young summed up Ronstadt’s talent even more emphatically: “I don’t know if there will ever be another singer who impacts me like she does. She is truly at the top of the class … I find it unbelievable that Linda Ronstadt is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There is something wrong with that. She should have been inducted a long time ago. I would be honored to her.”
Two years after his autobiography was published, Young got his wish—though the Eagles’ Glenn Frey inducted her.
Fifty-one years after Ronstadt released “Love Is a Rose,” the song remains a snapshot of a musical partnership that stretched across decades—and of a moment when Ronstadt made a Neil Young song a hit before most listeners had ever heard him sing it.
Related: ’70s Singer-Songwriter, Covered by Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt and Willie Nelson, Turns 74
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