Bobby Vinton -- "Roses Are Red" (1962)

Roses are red, my love

Violets are blue

Sugar is sweet, my love

But not as sweet as you

Happy Valentine’s Day!

American men spend about twice as much on Valentine’s Day gifts as American women spend.  (It’s possible that’s because men are buying stuff for more than one woman.  But I fear it’s because men are dopes.)

The most popular Valentine’s Day item purchased by men?  Flowers – most commonly, red roses.  (Men will spend about $2 billion on flowers this Valentine’s Day.)

The most popular Valentine’s Day item purchased by women.  Greeting cards.  (It’s sooooo hot when a woman gives you a greeting card for Valentine’s Day!)

Here are a few other Valentine’s Day facts:

– 14% of women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day.  

– Almost 200,000,000 roses are produced for Valentine’s Day each year.

– 53% of women say they would end their relationship if their significant others didn’t give them a Valentine’s gift.  (Trust me, guys – they’re bluffing!) 

– 11,000 children are conceived on Valentine’s Day each year.   (My research indicates that about 4 million babies are born in the U.S. each year – that’s an average of 11,000 per day.  So the fact that 11,000 are conceived on February 14 doesn’t mean squat.)

What was the smartest move of Valentine’s Day 2016?  Hayden Godfrey, a 17-year-old boy from Smithfield, Utah, saved his pennies for a year and half and used his savings to buy 900 carnations.  He then gave a carnation to every girl at his high school.

Hayden Godfrey and his 900 carnations

From the ABC News website:

Godfrey's mother . . . said he first got the idea in middle school, when he noticed that some girls didn't receive anything on the romantic holiday.

"That broke his heart on Valentine's Day," she told ABC News today, calling her son a "sensitive soul." She added: "He wanted every girl to feel joy."

(I know what you’re up to, Hayden Godfrey – I know exactly what you’re up to.  You may have fooled your mother, but you didn’t fool me.)

The lyrics to “Roses Are Red (My Love)” are based on an English nursery rhyme that may have been the first poem I ever memorized.

Here’s a link to some really rude “Roses are red” poems.

Bobby Vinton’s recording of “Roses Are Red (My Love)” ascended to the #1 spot on the Billboard “Hot 100” on July 14, 1962, and stayed there for four weeks.  

Vinson, whose father was a bandleader, formed a band of his own when he was 16.  By the time he graduated from Duquesne University, he could play piano, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, trumpet, and drums.

After serving as a chaplain’s assistant in the Army, Vinton and his band signed a record contract with Epic Records in 1960.  They recorded two albums that were flops.

Vinton’s contract guaranteed him a third recording session, and he convinced Epic to let him record as a vocalist rather than as a bandleader.  He found “Roses Are Red” in a pile of rejected song demos, and the rest . . . is history.

Bobby Vinton and his wife Dolly have been married for 53 years.  The oldest of their five children depicted Vinton in the Copacabana scene of Goodfellas.

“Roses Are Red” may be the record we learned to foxtrot to in Mrs. Warren’s sixth-grade ballroom dancing class.  But I’m thinking that we learned to foxtrot to another big Bobby Vinton hit, “Blue Velvet.”  (Maybe some of my sixth-grade friends can confirm that?)

Here’s “Roses Are Red (My Love)”:

Click below to buy the song from Amazon: