Songfacts®:

• This is the lead-off single from country artist Miranda Lambert's third album, Revolution. Lambert debuted it at the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 5, 2009.
• Lambert penned this ballad about a love gone bad herself. She explained in publicity materials her inspiration for this song: "I was about to go record right after Valentine's Day and I had gotten roses and they were so pretty, but I had to throw them out, because they get really nasty. I figured by the time I get back, they'll be dead, so I just threw them in the yard. I was packing my bags and I thought, man, that's sad. Those beautiful flowers are just wasted. I also leave my Christmas lights up all the time, because… I don't know, why not? And I looked out there and they were kind of hanging off the porch like they needed to be redone I wrote that song in 20 minutes and I'm very proud of it lyrically. The longer you go not writing by yourself, the harder it gets. So I always try to keep writing by myself as much as I can."
• Though critics garnished the song with numerous positive reviews, it only peaked at #37 on the country chart. Lambert told Vulture her label pulled it from the radio because they were "scared that it wasn't going to make it."
  
  Lambert added that every tour her band ask her if "Dead Flowers" can go on the setlist. "I guess I have a little bit of a grudge against it, because I'm like, Damn it. It makes me mad that it didn't get a shot," she said, "but I'm still proud of it because I love it."
• Lambert's husband, Brendan McLoughlin, named "Dead Flowers" his personal favorite of all her songs.