F A# F She was called a scarlet woman by the people C7 Who would go to church but left me in the street F A# With no parents of my own I never had a home G7 C7 And an eighteen year old boy has got to eat F A# F She found me outside one Sunday morning C Begging money from a man I didnʼt know F A# F She took me in and wiped away my childhood C7 F C7 A woman of the streets this lady Rose F A# F This bed of Roseʼs that I lay on C7 Where I was taught to be a man F A# F This bed of Roseʼs where Iʼm living C7 F C7 Is the only kind of life I understand F A# F She was a handsome woman just thirty-five C7 Who was spoken to in town by very few F A# She managed a late evening business G7 C7 Like most of the town wished they could do F A# F And I learned all the things that a man should know C7 From a woman not approved of I suppose F A# F But she died knowing that I really loved her C7 F C7 Of lifeʼs bramble bush I picked a rose
