About The Song
“Rose Colored Glasses” is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist John Conlee. It was released in April 1978 as the lead single from his debut album of the same name, issued by ABC Records later that year. The track was produced by Bud Logan at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Clocking in at 3:20, the piano-driven arrangement features background vocals by Mary Fielder and Lea Jane Berinati, with strings arranged by Alan Moore. Conlee, born John Wayne Conlee on August 11, 1946, in Versailles, Kentucky, co-wrote the song with George F. Baber, a Nashville session musician and songwriter. This marked Conlee’s breakthrough after earlier singles failed to chart; it was his fourth release on ABC but the first to gain significant traction.
The song entered the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart (now Hot Country Songs) in May 1978 and spent 20 weeks there, peaking at number 5. It also reached number 6 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada. While it did not cross over to the Billboard Hot 100, its success propelled the album to number 11 on the Top Country Albums chart, Conlee’s highest-charting LP until 1983. The album spawned two more singles: “Lady Lay Down,” which hit number 1 in October 1978, and “Backside of Thirty,” peaking at number 9 in 1979. Over his career, Conlee charted 32 singles on the Hot Country Songs, including seven number-ones like “Common Man” and “In My Eyes.”
Lyrically, the song employs the idiom “rose-colored glasses” to depict a narrator’s denial in a faltering relationship. He clings to illusions of love despite repeated evidence of betrayal, as reflected in verses about unreciprocated need and self-deception. The chorus highlights how these “glasses” reveal only beauty while concealing harsh truths, allowing him to romanticize past intimacies and avoid feelings of defeat. The bridge introduces a plea for redemption through persistence, culminating in a resolve to set aside the illusions if love is affirmed. This narrative of romantic self-deceit, as described in The Billboard Book of #1 Country Hits, underscores themes drawn from Conlee’s rural Kentucky upbringing on a tobacco farm, where he began performing music by age 10.
Before music, Conlee worked as a mortician and radio disc jockey at WLAC in Nashville from 1971 to 1978, after moving there in pursuit of a career. He signed with ABC in 1976 following a demo submission. The song’s piano-based, easy-listening style blended country with pop sensibilities, influencing Conlee’s signature baritone delivery. Post-release, he adopted rose-tinted glasses as a stage prop, auctioning pairs for charity, including a 2005 performance benefiting the Lymphatic Research Foundation. The track was performed live on Hee Haw on January 3, 1981, and at Farm Aid in 1985. Conlee joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1981, where it remains a staple.
Covers include renditions by Don Estelle, Arthur Blanch, J.D. Crowe & The New South, and Avryl Stockley. It has appeared in compilations like Classic Country: Golden ’70s and live recordings such as 1999’s Live at Billy Bob’s Texas. Critics, including Kurt Wolff and Orla Duane in Country Music: The Rough Guide, praised it as one of Conlee’s finest early works, noting its narrative depth alongside tracks like “Backside of Thirty.” Songfacts highlights its status as “pure country gold,” emblematic of Conlee’s focus on relatable, working-class stories. The song’s enduring legacy ties to Conlee’s shift to MCA Records in 1979, yielding further hits, and his total output of 11 studio albums through 2004.
Video
Lyric
[Verse 1]
I don’t know why I keep on believing you need me
When you’ve proved so many times that it ain’t true
And I can’t find one good reason for staying
Maybe my leaving would be the best for you[Chorus]
But these rose colored glasses
That I’m looking through
Show only the beauty
‘Cause they hide all the truth[Verse 2]
And they let me hold on to the good times, good lines
The ones I used to hear when I held you
And they keep me from feeling so cheated, defeated
When reflections in your eyes show me a fool[Chorus]
These rose colored glasses
That I’m looking through
Show only the beauty
‘Cause they hide all the truth[Bridge]
So I just keep on hopin’, believin’
That maybe by counting the many times that I’ve tried
You’ll believe me when I say, “I love you”
And I’ll lay these rose colored glasses aside[Chorus]
These rose colored glasses
That I’m looking through
Show only the beauty
‘Cause they hide all the truth