Song Analysis #3

“Every Rose has its Thorn”
By: Poison

The band “Poison” was formed in the year 1983. The band is an
American rock/metal band and is considered to be a “glam metal” band. They
originally started with the name “Paris” but adopted “Poison” only a short
time after the band was formed. The band consists of members Bret Michaels,
C.C. DeVille, Bobby Dall, and Rikki Rockett. Poison began to experience
major popularity in the late 1980’s and early 90’s. Their album “Open Up
and Say…Ahh!” peaked at #2 on the American music charts. The album consists
of 4 top 10 hits and their only #1 song ever in “Every Rose has its Thorn”,
which was released in 1988. The song was written by Michaels after his love
affair ended. The woman he was seeing cheated on him, and he found out when
he called her and heard a man’s voice in the background. “Every Rose has
its Thorn” is a song that shows despair with the use of sad lyrics, poetic
devices, and a great song structure.
“Every Rose has its Thorn” is a song that clearly shows the sadness
in Michaels’ voice and lyrics. He is heartbroken, and doesn’t understand
why she left him. In the lines “Was it something I said or something I did,
Did my words not come out right”, Michaels is clearly questioning why she
left him. He blames it on himself for the breakup. He is saddened because
he feels every great girl he meets, always has a bad side. He compares the
girl to a rose, and how every “rose” has a thorn, or a bad side. Also, he
compares the situation to “a knife that cuts you, the wound heals, but the
scar, that scar remains.” Michaels is saying that he will eventually heal
from his wound that the woman caused, but the affect she left on him will
remain like a scar. The scar will always remind him of how sad he was after
she left him. Michaels is obviously pointing out how sad he is and is
showing his despair in this song.
In “Every Rose has its Thorn”, the song is written with many poetic
devices to show despair in the lyrics. The song title “Every Rose has it
Thorn” is actually a metaphor, and it is comparing a beautiful woman to a
rose, that has a bad side, like how a rose has a thorn. The use of the
metaphor allows the audience to compare how Michaels is feeling about this
woman, to a rose. The song also uses a simile in the line “like a knife
that cuts you”. In this line, Michaels is comparing how he feels after the
woman left, to a knife that slices you. Also in the lyrics, Michaels uses
imagery. He writes and sings about roses and scars, and he uses these to
create the image in the mind of the audience/reader. The song also has a
bridge and a breakdown in it. The bridge comes right after the first
chorus, and it adds a different tempo to the song. The breakdown comes
after verse 4, and it is a solo that adds a more dramatic affect to the
song. Michaels and the band did a wonderful job developing a great song
structure with the use of the bridge and the breakdown. With the use of
these poetic devices, the lyrics furthermore show how sad Michaels is over
his lost.
Poison’s overall message in the song is that even though somebody
looks so elegant and beautiful; they have a downside or as they call it a
“thorn.” Their mood in the song is a loss of happiness and it makes the
listener/reader feel pity for Michaels. When I listen to the song, I feel
sorry for him. It has a slow and sad tempo that really gets you to feel for
him. It also creates a well developed image and really makes you feel what
Michaels is feeling. It relates to my theme of despair because the song is
clearly showing how sad this man is. To me “Every Rose has its Thorn” is
one of the saddest songs from the 1980’s and should be considered one of
the best written songs from that decade.