Foreign songs about flowers: world classics and popular hits

SunflowerREX ORANGE COUNTY

Rex Orange County – Sunflower

This is a work by Rex Orange County, a singer-songwriter from the UK, whose softly hazy sound and sweet, smooth vocals resonate pleasantly in the ears.

The track was released in March 2017 ahead of his second album, Apricot Princess.

It portrays the delicate emotions of a protagonist who longs to be like the sun for the person they love, yet wavers with insecurity due to a lack of confidence.

Anyone who has ever been in love will deeply relate to that pure, single-minded devotion.

The music video by Illegal Civ Cinema further enriches the song’s world.

On those restless nights when you’re thinking of someone special, why not let the warm melody of this piece gently embrace you?

Yellow RosesHeron

Heron-Yellow Roses 1970

Known by the nickname “Komorebi Folk,” the British folk group Heron has a song called “Yellow Roses.” Another song that features yellow roses is the old folk song from the American South, “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”

Days of Wine and RosesElla Fitzgerald

Days of Wine and Roses – Ella Fitzgerald

The Japanese title “Sake to Bara no Hibi” (“Days of Wine and Roses”) is famous as one of the jazz standards, but it was originally the theme song for an American film of the same name.

(It seems the film itself wasn’t much of a hit.) However, the theme song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and it has since been covered by many musicians up to the present day.

Pictures of LilyThe Who

Pictures Of Lily

This song is a track by the British rock band The Who, released in 1967, and its Japanese title is “Lily no Omokage” (“The Image of Lily”).

It’s a ballad about a boy suffering from insomnia who falls in love with a woman named Lily he sees in a photograph given to him by his father.

Lily also means “yuri” (lily) in Japanese, and it seems that quite a few women’s names in foreign countries are also names of flowers.

English RoseMotörhead

English Rose – Motorhead

Motörhead is a high-speed, loud-as-hell rock band said to have developed a sound that encompassed the musical qualities of thrash metal and hardcore punk long before those genres emerged.

Among their songs is one called “English Rose.”

EdelweissThe Sound of Music

Edelweiss from The Sound of Music (Official HD Video)

The song “Edelweiss” appears in the American musical film The Sound of Music.

In the story, Captain von Trapp sings it as he thinks of his homeland, Austria, which is disappearing after being annexed by Germany, cherishing the edelweiss as a symbol of Austria.

Edelweiss is a high-altitude plant in the Asteraceae family and is commonly found in the Alps.

Violets For Your FursMatt Dennis

Matt Dennis – “Violets For Your Furs” (1957)

Known in Japan by the title “Violets for Your Furs,” this song is one of the jazz standards.

It was composed and also sung by Matt Dennis, who was a jazz singer-songwriter.

With its contrast of violets against fur and its slightly affected lyrics that evoke spring despite it being winter, it’s a love song with a suave touch.