I Don't Want Your Red Red Roses
The text of this song finds the female character rejecting her lover in no uncertain terms, refusing his diamonds, flowers, money, and above all, the relationship itself. Broadly contemporary with "Blah Blah" and "Don't Get Married Girls", it's one of Leon's overtly feminist songs, but one which was not recorded at the time. It was rescued from paper when Frankie Armstrong first recorded it for her 1984 album (released 1985 in the UK), I Heard a Woman Singing.
Although Leon plays on Armstrong's album, including on a version of his own "My Daughter My Son", he does not feature on this recording. It is curious then, that when he did eventually bring the song into his own discography with the album Turning Silence Into Song (2004), rather than make his own version he simply included Armstrong's earlier rendition.
Although Leon plays on Armstrong's album, including on a version of his own "My Daughter My Son", he does not feature on this recording. It is curious then, that when he did eventually bring the song into his own discography with the album Turning Silence Into Song (2004), rather than make his own version he simply included Armstrong's earlier rendition.
"A tongue-in-cheek country number. I don't write many of those. Frankie Armstrong sings all the parts on this recording." - LR (Turning Silence Into Song (sleevenotes), 2004)
Recordings
Cover version / Version 1 (1974) Recording made by Frankie Armstrong in California. Brought into Leon's own discography in 2004, to become his own version 1.
- I Heard A Woman Singing (LP)
- Turning Silence Into Song