When it comes to songs about flowers, many songs are about love and relationships. In other cases, the song is about the actual flowers themselves. Whichever way a writer decides to write a song about flowers, there are lots of them. In this article, we will break down some of the best songs about flowers.
“Kiss From A Rose” – Seal
Although Seal is now famous for his appearances on the show called The Voice, Seal was originally known for this smash-hit which helped launch his career to the upper stratosphere of fame.
Kiss From A Rose, released in 1995, was Seal’s breakthrough song reaching the number one spot on the charts. This song seems to remind everyone that a rose has thorns and reminds us all of the wonderful love we feel and also love lost.
“Bed Of Roses” – Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi hit it big in the late 1980s becoming one the biggest rock bands in history. After years of straight rock and roll, Bon Jovi came forward with the song Bed Of Roses, which set a separate path for the supergroup.
The song was released in 1993 and became one of Bon Jovi’s most successful tracks. The song reminds the listener of being away from the one that is loved.
“Lilac Wine” – Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley is known for his guitar playing and voice of silk. Buckley has a way of touching upon emotions in a great many ways.
In this song, Buckley sings about drinking too much, “Because it brings me back to you”. The song was originally created by James Shelton in 1950. However, Buckley and his voice made the song an even bigger hit.
“Push The Little Daisies” – Ween
Ween came out of the experimental music attitudes of the early 1990s. In 1992, Ween created this original-sounding track.
This song set the group apart from others and the song saw many mainstream successes in their home country of Australia. This song has a punk feel with emotion.
“Marigold” – Nirvana
Nirvana had a full album of hits coming out in the early 1990s and this song is one of those. Reaching the highest point on almost all charts Nirvana was the super band of the early 90s.
Marigold is a lesser-known track from the band on the B-side of the Heart-Shaped Box album in 1993. The track was originally written by Dave Grohl, Nirvana’s drummer, in 1992.
“Every Rose Has Its Thorn” – Poison
Poison busted out on the hair glam rock scene with furry, releasing a slew of rock and roll hits with aggression. However, when the group released Every Rose Has Its Thorn, the group showed another side of their emotions.
The fans loved the result and the song became one of the group’s biggest hits in a power ballad. The power of the lyrics and the backing tracks shined right through the makeup and hairspray to reveal a top hit.
“Build Me Up Buttercup” – The Foundations
For many decades now this song has been used commercially. The song has been used in movies, commercials, and more. The song is about the little yellow perennial that so many people are familiar with.
This song was first created and recorded in the year 1968 by The Foundations. The vocals on the song deliver the message with meaning and clarity, asking for buttercup to not break his heart.
“Candle in the Wind” – Elton John
1997 was a heartfelt year for England and America alike. Princess Diana, the Princess of Wales, had died in an avoidable car crash. Elton John felt the need to play this masterpiece in the memory of the princess.
There is no flower named in the title, however, the song is referred to as ‘England’s Rose’ and this makes the song suitable for this list.
The 1997 hit was created in 1973 over the loss of Marilyn Monroe. John adapted the song in the wake of Princess Diana’s death to pay tribute. This song is the highest-selling single ever.
“You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”- Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond
A duet from two of the most famous voices coming out of the 1970s. The back and forth between the two singers leads to much emotion being drawn out in the listener. The lyrics point to love lost and how much love is missed.
The song talks of what used to be in a relationship, but is no longer present. The couple seems to miss the love songs and flowers they used to bring each other. No more.
“Tiptoe Through The Tulips” – Tiny Tim
This song is a bit less serious than the others mentioned on this list. The song was originally written by Al Dubin and his writing partner Joe Burke in the year 1929.
Nick Lucas, a jazz guitarist, released the song and it hit the number one spot on the charts shortly after. This song, because of the tone and content, was featured in the very first Looney Tunes cartoon ever produced.
“Sunflower” – Post Malone, Swae Lee
Post Malone and Swae Lee sing about a girl whose larger than life presence makes them feel that her love would be “too much”. Even though they want to be close to her, she doesn’t make it easy for them. Feeling that she is dependent on them, however, they can’t walk away. They compare the girl to one of the brightest, boldest flowers, always turning her face towards the sun.
“Sunflower” was an important track in 2018’s Into The Spiderverse, used therapeutically by the main character, Miles Morales, to calm him down and help him to summon inner strength. Post Malone has described it as one of his favourite collaborations because of how it is used in the film.
“The Rose” – Bette Midler
After running through different interpretations of love and comparing it to a river, a razor and a hunger among other things, Midler finds her own image to describe it.
Using nature’s most romantic flower, she describes how love can grow from a seed even after a long winter when the heart has been closed off. The result is a tender track about learning to open yourself up to intimacy again.
The track was originally written by Amanda McBroom, who submitted it to the producers of a film of the same a year later. Although producers of The Rose initially rejected the song as a title track, star Bette Midler fought for the track and ended up recording it.
“(Nothing But) Flowers” – Talking Heads
This up-tempo track from the Talking Heads describes a pleasantly apocalyptic scene in which modern civilisation has vanished, to be replaced with a back-to-nature Garden of Eden-esque scene.
Where there once were buildings and cars, there is now “nothing but flowers”. The protagonists learn to hunt for their dinner and to source nuts and berries for fuel, but they can’t help dreaming about the society they used to live in and lamenting that they didn’t appreciate it when it was there.
“Wildflowers” – Tom Petty
Petty encourages the listener to go discover their wild side in this sweet track. He tells them that they belong among wildflowers, sailing away to some distant shore, and urges them to “run away, find you a lover”. It’s a uplifting track that inspires a sense of possibility and adventure.
Petty has described his writing process for the track as “stream of consciousness”, saying that he wrote the whole thing in about three and a half minutes by playing it directly into the tape recorder. “I just took a deep breath and it all came out,” he said.
“Cherry Blossom” – Kacey Musgraves
Musgraves urges her lover not to let what they have blow away in the wind like cherry blossom, but to instead put time into their relationship and turn their chemistry into something real. She sets the song amongst the cherry blossoms of Japan, in early April. The romantic backdrop of the flowers gives the song a flirty feel and highlights that the two protagonists are exploring something that hasn’t yet fully bloomed.
“Dandelions” – Ruth B.
Yes, okay, dandelions are usually classed as weeds, but the romantic tone of this song gives them a flowery feel. Ruth thinks that the love she’s found might be that once in a lifetime kind of relationship, but it’s almost too good to be true.
That’s why she finds herself standing in a field of the flowers, making wishes on all of them.
Ruth wrote the track after hearing a piece of advice from the singer songwriter, who advised fellow songwriters to choose a pretty word and write a song around it. She released the song in 2017, but it wasn’t until 2022 that it entered the charts after going viral on TikTok.
“Daffodil” – Florence + The Machine
Daffodils are used to represent spring in this track from Florence + The Machine, which celebrates the season of renewal and the possibilities that come with it. Like most of the Dance Fever, Florence Welch uses mythical imagery to describe rituals surrounding spring. In these rituals, daffodils are used by the protagonist to predict the future.
“Roses” – Shawn Mendes
Mendes describes an inner struggle in “Roses”. He understands that the girl he loves is happy in her new relationship, but he can’t believe that her new boyfriend could ever love her as much as he does. He decides all he can do is offer her his love and leave the decision in her hands. He uses the rose to represent this offer, asking her if she’ll “let it die or let it grow”.
“Daisies” – Katy Perry
Perry encourages listeners to stay true to themselves and the path that they’re on in this ode to big ambitions. She uses her personal story as an example – her one in a million shot paid off and she managed a successful music career, despite all the naysayers.
She also assures the listener that she’ll never change “’til they cover me in daisies”. The track served as the lead single from Perry’s album Smile. Promotion for the single included Katy opening an online flower shop called “Katy’s Daisies”, in which customers could buy multicoloured bouquets to send to loved ones.
One day before the album’s release, Perry gave birth to her first child – a girl, aptly named Daisy.
“Lotus Flower” – Radiohead
This cryptic track from the English rockers has had many interpretations, but it seems to describe an unfurling relationship between two people who are trying to figure out what they are to each other. The music video for the song showed vocalist Thom Yorke displaying an unconventional dancing style. This inspired an internet meme in which different songs were played underneath footage of Yorke’s dance.
Caitlin Devlin is a music, entertainment and lifestyle writer based in London. When she’s not creating playlists for Repeat Replay, she’s reviewing gigs and interviewing artists for Ticketmaster UK and thinking about what her Spotify Wrapped will look like this year.