She was called a scarlet woman by the people, Who would go to church but left me in the street, With no parents of my own, I never had a home, And an eighteen year old boy has got to eat.
She found me outside one Sunday morning, Taking money from a man I didn't know, She took me in and wiped away my childhood, A woman of the streets this Lady Rose.
This bed of roses that I lay on, Where I was taught to be a man, This bed of roses where I'm living, Is the only kind of love I understand.
She was a handsome woman, just thirty-four, Who was spoken to in town by very few. She managed a late evening business, Like most of the town wished they could do.
And I learned all the things that a man should know, From a woman not approved of I suppose, But she died knowing that I really loved her, Off life's bramble bush,I picked a rose.