With a contract to Mercury Records (1975), McEntire began her professional career singing heavily pop-influenced ballads, a far cry from the neotraditionalist movement she would help lead a few years later.
"I Don't Want To Be A One Night Stand" became her first charting single in 1976. Her first Top 10 hit "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" followed four years later, and in 1982 she scored her first #1 hit with "Can't Even Get The Blues."
Frustrated at her limited commercial success, McEntire left Mercury and signed with MCA Records in 1984. 1984's "Just A Little Love" wasn't much different form her Mercury material and was only moderately successful. However, another album followed later that same year, titled "My Kind of Country." This was a return-to-roots record, complete with fiddles and steel. It was comprised largely of covers of classic country songs, as well as original songs such as "How Blue" and the Harlan Howard-penned "Somebody Should Leave", both of which reached #1 on the Billboard country singles chart.
In the early 1990s McEntire expanded her audience by adopting a softer, more pop-oriented sound. She became one of the best-selling country artists of all time, releasing three volumes of greatest hits collections.
Since that first #1 hit in 1982, she's forked out 21 more chartbusters, which are all recapped on "Reba #1s" released on November 22nd, 2005. The 2-disc compilation features all 22 number one singles (according to Billboard magazine) in chronological order, including two new tracks "You're Gonna Be" and "Love Needs A Holiday." "Reba #1s" also contains 11 singles that reached the #1 spot in publications other than Billboard.
She won the Female Vocalist of the Year award from the Country Music Association four times in a row (a record she holds with Martina McBride), and had dozens of Top Ten hits during the 80s. For her contribution to the recording industry, Reba McEntire has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. In 1995, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
She is one of only six solo women (others include Shania Twain, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Taylor Swift), to win the Country Music Association's highest honor, "Entertainer Of The Year". McEntire continued to hit the charts through the 2000s, as well as appearing in television and film, most notably Tremors, a cult horror movie series, Forever Love, and One Night at McCool's. She also starred as Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway, receiving critical acclaim.
From 2001 to 2007, Reba starred in the hit WB television show, Reba (with Texan actor Christopher Rich as her philandering ex-husband), even getting a visit from fellow country star Dolly Parton who played Reba's character's supervisor at a real estate firm.
San Antonio Rose
Reba McEntire Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It knows only me heart
Call back my rose
Rose of San Antone
Oh lips so sweet and tender
Just like petals fallin' apart
Speak once again of my love
My ol' broken songs
Still live in my heart all alone
For that moonlit path
Oh beside the Alamo
And rose my rose of San Antone
Oh my rose my rose of San Antone
Take a bow boys!
You know a lot of people ask me all the time,
Who were my musical influences.
Well I guess it's just kinda natural,
Since I was raised in Oklahoma,
That one of my musical influences was bob wills music.
When I was in college we used to
Sneak down to the Oklahoma and Texas border and go to dances.
And it didn't get any better than dancing to bob wills music.
But you know there was another guy from Oklahoma.
I had every album he ever put out.
My older brother
Pake and my little sister Susie and me, we sang every song he did
'Cause Merle Haggard was a great influence on all of us.
The lyrics to Reba McEntire's song "San Antonio Rose" suggest a deep longing and heartbreak for a lost love. The singer addresses their former partner with admiration and reverence, acknowledging their beauty and splendor. However, despite the adoration, the singer is left with a heavy heart, calling back to their lost love, the rose of San Antone. The lyrics paint a picture of a sorrowful and lonely individual who is lost without the one they love. The imagery of petals falling apart and empty words that still live in the heart all alone reflect the emotional weight of the situation. The setting of the moonlit path beside the Alamo adds to the melancholic atmosphere of the song. The repeated phrase "my rose of San Antone" is a plea to their former lover to come back to them and reignite the love they once shared.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh you and all your splendor
The beauty of San Antonio and all its grandeur is uniquely captivating to me
It knows only me heart
It fills my heart with deep affection that only I can feel and understand
Call back my rose
Bring back to me the love of my life
Rose of San Antone
My beloved who embodies the charm and allure of San Antonio
Oh lips so sweet and tender
Your lips possess a tenderness and sweetness that is as pure as a flower petal
Just like petals fallin' apart
But like petals falling off a flower, our love has come apart and drifted away
Speak once again of my love
Remind me of the love we shared so that I can relive it in my mind
My ol' broken songs
My heartbroken tunes that depict the pain of a love lost
Empty words I know
Although I know my words of love are hollow and worthless, I still have them in my heart
Still live in my heart all alone
These memories of love still reverberate deep within me, tormenting me with the pain of a love lost
For that moonlit path
The memory of that romantic walk we took together in the moonlight still lingers within me
Oh beside the Alamo
Walking hand-in-hand with you, beneath the Alamo, made that night a memorable one
And rose my rose of San Antone
You are the rose that bloomed in San Antonio and oh my beloved, how I wistfully long for you now
Oh my rose my rose of San Antone
Oh how I cherish and desire you, my love and dearest beloved of San Antonio
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
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