Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)

Album

Already

Label

Bell Records

Genre

Bubblegum

Composer(s)

Tony MacaulayBarry Mason;

Entered Chart

Feb 21, 1970

Peak Date

Mar 28, 1970

Released

9 January 1970 (UK)[1] 21 February 1970 (US)

Recorded

England, November 1969

Catalog #

Bell 858

B-Side

Every Lonely Day

The British producers Tony Macaulay and Barry Mason wrote this song with Sylvan Mason, who was Barry's wife at the time. (Sylvan is often uncredited, but her divorce agreement provides hard evidence that she co-wrote this song and the Tom Jones hit "Delilah.") The song is about a free spirit named Rosemary who leaves the singer besotted. Many have claimed to be the actual Rosemary the song is about, but Sylvan Mason says that like Delilah, no such person exists. She told Songfacts: "Tony [Macaulay] came over with a melody and rough idea for a song, which title originally was 'It's My Heart You'll Be Breaking Apart,' but he said he wanted to put a girl's name in the title because that's what sold records in those days. The girl's name Rosemary fitted with the title so we started the song from scratch merely using the name Rosemary." Macaulay and Barry Mason recorded the song using session musicians. When it became a hit, they put together a band from members of the group Greefield Hammer in order to perform it live. McCaulay eventually put together another group using the Edison Lighthouse name. A session singer named Tony Burrows sang lead. He was the voice of several studio groups, including White Plains, The Pipkins, and Brotherhood Of Man, First Class ("Beach Baby") and the Flowerpot Men ("Let's Go To San Francisco"). He famously appeared on one UK TV show three times in one night when three different groups (all fronted by him) were due to perform their current chart hits. He said, "I just kept changing hats." >> Why is the love growing? That's a play on the name Rosemary, which is an herb. Tony Macaulay also co-wrote and sang lead on "Smile A Little Smile For Me" (recorded by The Flying Machine), which is about "Rose Marie." >> This song is mentioned in the dialogue on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack by a faux-'70s DJ (voiced by deadpan comedian Steven Wright), although the song itself is not used in the film. "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" was featured in the 2001 movie Shallow Hal, starring Jack Black as a man who comes under a spell and sees only the inner beauty of women. He falls for an overweight girl named Rosemary, who to him looks like Gwyneth Paltrow. The song also appears in the 2018 movie The Kissing Booth, and in the 2004 episode of The Sopranos, "All Happy Families." The song enjoyed a revival in early 2022 after TikTok user Rosemary Blake (exhibitionbuffalo) posted a video on the platform. Her "I love Rosemary" visual shows the TikToker acting along to the opening lines. She ain't got no money Her clothes are kinda funny Her hair is kinda wild and free Oh, but Love grows where my Rosemary goes. Blake's clip sparked a major TikTok trend of users posting videos and snapshots of themselves to accompany the song's lyrics.

She ain't got no money
Her clothes are kinda funny
Her hair is kinda wild and free
Oh, but Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

She talks kinda lazy
And people say she she's crazy
And her life's a mystery
Oh, but Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

There's something about her hand holding mine
It's a feeling that's fine
And I just gotta say
She's really got a magical spell
And it's working so well
That I can't get away

I'm a lucky fella
And I've just got to tell her
That I love her endlessly
Because Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

There's something about her hand holding mine
It's a feeling that's fine
And I just gotta say
She's really got a magical spell
And it's working so well
That I can't get away

I'm a lucky fella
And I've just got to tell her
That I love her endlessly
Because Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

Fadeout:
It keeps growing every place she's been
And nobody knows like me

If you've met her, you'll never forget her
And nobody knows like me

La la la- believe it when you've seen it
Nobody knows like me