Joe South, a singer-songwriter who wove confrontational
lyrics into bouncy pop hits of the late 1960s and early ’70s, including “Games
People Play,” “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” and “(I Never Promised You a) Rose
Garden,” died on Wednesday at home in Flowery Branch, Ga., north of Atlanta. He
was 72.
The cause was apparently a heart attack, said Judy Thompson,
a longtime friend.
Mr. South’s best-known song became a hit when it was
recorded by someone else. “Rose Garden,” sung by Lynn Anderson, reached No. 3
on the Billboard pop chart in 1971, four years after Mr. South wrote it. The
chorus — “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden/Along with the
sunshine there’s gotta be a little rain sometime” — reflected a world-weariness
characteristic of his writing.
In 1969 he targeted religion and insincerity in “Games
People Play,” which thrust him toward stardom.
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