Posted by http://www.nostalgoteket.se "Rose Garden" was originally an album cut by the song's writer, Joe South, in 1969. Several other male vocalists recorded it on albums including Freddy Weller and Dobie Gray but it was never a hit until Anderson's version. A recording by the girl group The Three Degrees, best known for their 1974 hit, "When Will I See You Again", also predated Lynn Anderson's hit version.
Anderson wanted to record the song but her producer (and husband) Glenn Sutton felt it was a "man's song", in part because of the line "I could promise you things like big diamond rings". According to Anderson, Sutton agreed to record the song as a potential album cut when there was still session time left after her scheduled session. Rearranging the song to a more uptempo, light-hearted melody, Sutton and everyone in the studio was impressed with the results, including Columbia Records executive Clive Davis, who deemed the song worthy of a pop release as well as being a country single. Shortly after its breakthrough on American top 40 radio, the song became an international hit. A cover version released by Sandi Shaw in England ultimately failed to chart as the original quickly became a major success there.
