Video hit Poison

Poison - Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Every Rose Has Its Thorn is the title of a power ballad song by American glam metal band Poison. It was released in October 1988 as the third single from Poison's second album Open Up and Say... Ahh!.

It is the band's only number-one hit in the U.S., reaching the top spot on Christmas Eve in 1988 for three weeks (carrying over into 1989) and it also charted at #11 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It was a number 13 hit in the UK.

"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" was named number 34 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s", #100 on their "100 Greatest Love Songs" and #7 on MTV and VH1 "Top 25 Power Ballads".

Musically, the song starts quietly and features two intricate guitar solos, one mellow and one fast. Among guitarists, the song is notable for epitomizing the standard G - Cadd9 progression in pop/rock. During the same period, Poison had been playing at a cowboy bar called "The Ritz" in Dallas, Texas, accounting for the song's recognizable references to cowboys in the chorus, along with the twang in Bret Michaels' vocals, which give the song a country feel not often heard in power ballads composed by glam metal bands.

Background and writing

In an interview with VH1's Behind the Music, Michaels said the inspiration for the song came from a night when he was in a laundromat waiting for his clothes to dry, and called his girlfriend on a pay phone. Michaels said he heard a male voice in the background and was devastated; he said he went into the laundromat and wrote "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" as a result. The name of the girl in the song is Tracy Lewis.

Music video

The music video to "Every Rose" was similar to those filmed for other 1980s power ballads. It features Michaels sitting down, playing the guitar, and singing along to the song, interspersed with black-and-white clips from concerts, and color frames of a storyline that follows the song.

The lyrics:

We both lie silently still

In the dead of the night

Although we both lie close together

We feel miles apart inside

Was it something I said or something I did

Did my words not come out right

Though I tried not to hurt you

Though I tried

But I guess that's why they say

Every rose has it's thorn

Just like every night has it's dawn

Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song

Every rose has it's thorn

Yeah it does

I listen to our favorite song

Playing on the radio

Hear the DJ say love's a game of easy come and

Easy go

But I wonder does he know

Has he ever felt like this

And I know that you'd be here right now

If I could have let you know somehow

I guess

Every rose has it's thorn

Just like every night has it's dawn

Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song

Every rose has it's thorn

Though it's been a while now

I can still feel so much pain

Like a knife that cuts you the wound heals

But the scar, that scar remains

Solo

I know I could have saved a love that night

If I'd known what to say

Instead of makin' love

We both made our separate ways

But now I hear you found somebody new

And that I never meant that much to you

To hear that tears me up inside

And to see you cuts me like a knife

I guess

Every rose has it's thorn

Just like every night has it's dawn

Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song

Every rose has it's thorn