Never A Rose (1982)
Genre: Rock ballad
Almost immediately after my move to Boulder in 1978, I sought to add to my musical instrument collection and improve my musical education—as cheaply as possible. I bought an old, clacky Kimball upright piano and commenced my first ever piano lessons at the Boulder Free School. I bought a new Takamine acoustic guitar at Folks Arts Music, where I took weekly guitar lessons in the basement with Robb Candler, an excellent guitarist and teacher, and a genuinely nice guy (later the owner of Robb’s Music).
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and in the 1970s, the Japanese guitar company was copying not only the structural bracing pattern of the more expensive American C. F. Martin brand, but also their logo. A lawsuit eventually ensued. At the time the Takamine was as close as I could get to the revered Martin dreadnought on my budget. It’s still (in my estimate) a beautiful sounding guitar.
My final purchase was a nod to my former hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan—a used Les Paul electric guitar. By the late 1970s Gibson guitars were no longer made at the Kalamazoo factory (nor were they of the same quality), but it was nevertheless nice to own a symbolic piece of “home.”
It was on these instruments that I started writing most of my early songs. The first “demo” recording I made of “Never A Rose” was with my non-Kalamazoo Les Paul, accompanied by a drum machine, the (unfortunately) ubiquitous alternative to live drums popular in the 1980s.
Lyrically, one of the main stylistic influences for “Never A Rose” was William Shakespeare.
The University of Colorado hosts the annual Colorado Shakespeare Festival from June through August at the outdoor Mary Rippon Theater, with three plays presented in repertory throughout the summer. For several years running, as part of my self-improvement plan as an aspiring Renaissance man, I would read and study each of the three plays, then attend the evening performances. Some of the language of “Never A Rose” was influenced by this close reading. “Worser genius,”for example, is not a phrase that naturally comes to mind, but Shakespeare gave me license to try new things.
As for the theme of the song…
Some people cruise through life, getting all the green lights, while others seem cursed, getting nothing but speed bumps. Most of us are somewhere in between. Then there are others who seem to invite bad luck, carrying a dark cloud around with them wherever they go, addicted to trouble, bound and determined to bring on their own bad karma.
What happens when those are the very people we love the most? When the ones we really care about can’t seem to learn life lessons, who repeatedly find themselves in the “same old ruts.”
“Never A Rose” starts with the acknowledgement that life is difficult and sometimes the hardest paths we choose for ourselves are the ones from which we learn the most.
On the other hand, sometimes it’s impossible to continue to support those who betray our trust time and time again.