Tag: joe south

A few days ago, my friend Todd hit me up on IM and asked if knew what the sample was to this:

Shad: Rose Garden
From TSOL (Fontana North, 2010)

Hadn’t caught this last year (song/video appeared early summer 2010) but was instantly smitten by the production.¹ I didn’t know the sample though except that it was obviously some cover of Joe South’s country hit, “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden.” I gotta say, it’s a pretty great song on a few different levels. Not only is the songwriting strong but there’s a lot of flexibility in how one might approach it, making it a great song to cover.² For example, after South, the next artist to find success with it was Dobie Gray in 1969, putting a much stronger soul/funk feel on it.

In fact, I thought maybe it was Gray’s version that was used in the Shad song but even if sped-up, it wasn’t right; the intonations weren’t right and Gray’s got no back-up singers unlike the sample. So I threw the question to the cloud and Brendan Joyce came through.³ Clearly, this is the OG source:

The Three Degrees: Rosegarden⁴
From Maybe (Roulette, 1970)

Pretty awesome soul take on the tune – I’d say it’s neck and neck with Gray’s, which is a bit slower, though the fact that the Degrees could throw back-up harmonies gives it an edge too (the funky guitars on this are a bit much for me though).

Also, it’s been four years since I first posted it, but if we’re going to talk Three Degrees, gotta give love to this great song off the same Maybe album:

The Three Degrees: Collage
From Maybe (Roulette, 1970)

---

Notes: