A Rose By Any Other Name
© By Gerry Creen
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A Rose By Any Other Name is a song from 1977, written spontaneously on a night journey into Belfast during the darkest days of the Northern Ireland conflict. Among it’s messages are tolerance, the responsibility of leadership and the importance of giving guidance to young people.
The album ‘A Rose By Any Other Name’, which was produced by Gerry aided by Shaun Wallace and Enda Walsh, was recorded at Shaun Wallace’s Homestead Studios in Randalstown. The album featured the highly respected musicians Shaun Wallace electric guitar, Enda Walsh keyboards, Jane Cassidy vocals, Frank Cassidy bouzouki, Trevor Stewart uillean pipes, Billy Moll concertina and bodhran, Neil Martin whistle, Anthony McQuillan bass and Brendan McGarrity and Colin Bell on drums plus Gerry vocals, acoustic and electric guitars and harmonica.
At several of its events the David Ervine Foundation invited him to perform his timeless and profoundly moving peace anthem A Rose By Any Other Name which was written in 1977 during some of the darkest times of the Troubles. The song won first prize in the Bass Ireland Song Competition in 1979 as a key traditional song about the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Lyrics:
Take a seed and plant it in the ground
Watch and tend it carefully as the years go rolling round
And from that seed may grow a flower or two
But if it’s to bloom again next spring, well that’s up to me and you
‘Cause a rose by any other name is still a rose, it’s still a rose
Take a child who’s in the prime of life
In his golden age of innocence is he born of love or strife
He may be a leader in a year or two
And if he’s to know what’s right from wrong
Well that’s up to me and you
Let’s hope he’ll never choose
What’s wrong for the sake of love
Or his love for the sake of gain
Either way he’s bound to loose
And the love he finds it
can only lead to pain
If he don’t remember
That a rose by any other name is still a rose, it’s still a rose
And a child who’s taught to hate and maim is just a child he’s not to blame
Take a land the finest ever seen
It’s hills and lakes and valleys all draped in emerald green
Oh take this land as lovely as can be
Oh can this be a land of love well that’s up to you and me
Lets hope we never choose between our children and the land we love so well
‘Cause either way we’re bound to loose
And the land we know as heaven can soon turn into hell
If we don’t remember
That a rose by any other name is still a rose, it’s still a rose
And a child who’s taught to hate and maim he’s just a child he’s not to blame
Yes a rose by any other name is still a rose it’s just the same
And a land by any other name is still the land from where we came
A rose by any other name
A rose by any other name
Further Infomation
YEAR RELEASED
1986YEAR SET
1977REVIEWS
“at the Peace Lines and Lyrics event at Stormont as part of the Belfast Nashville songwriters Festival, Gerry Creen sang A Rose By Any Other Name, considered by many as one of Ireland’s leading peace anthems.”
Jim Gibney, Irish news, 2010
“As I listened to ‘A Rose By Any Other Name’ it dawned on me that the songwriter was actually describing faith – not Roman Catholic faith, not Protestant faith, but faith in the goodness of people. This song has put into melody what is indescribable in other ways. He has grasped the faith which has helped us through a terrible period in our history.”
Brendan Duddy (in the pre-ceasefire period was the key figure in a secret communications link between the British Government and the IRA leadership)