Released March 1972 Recorded December 9, 1971 Length 2:40 | Format 7" Genre Country | |
B-side "Richmond Valley Breeze" | ||
"Eleven Roses" is a song written by Lamar Morris and Darrell McCallm and recorded by American country music artist Hank Williams Jr.. It was released in March 1972 as the only single and title track from the album of the same name. The song was Williams' first number one, as solo artist, on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart in July 1972, spending two weeks atop the chart. The song spent 14 weeks on the Hot Country Singles chart's top 40.
Content
The song—recorded in the countrypolitan vein, and much different than Williams' later recordings—is a ballad about a man who gives his girlfriend a bouquet of 11 roses. The boyfriend, apparently repentant and remorseful for wrongs that he did to her ("after what I've done you may not keep my roses"), then asks her to look into the mirror while clutching the bouquet, hoping that she'll find that "the 12th rose will be staring back at you."