She was called a scarlet woman by the people
Who would go to church but leave me in the street
With no parents of my own I never had a home
And a fifteen year old girl has got to eat
She found me outside one Sunday morning
Begging money from a man I didn't know
She took me in and wiped away my childhood
That woman of the street this lady Rose
This bed of roses that I lay on where I was taught to love a man
This bed of roses where I'm livin' is the only kind of life I'll understand
She was a handsome woman just thirty-five
Who was spoken to in town by very few
She managed a late evening business
Like most of the town wished they'd do
I learned all the things a man should know
From a woman not approved of I suppose
She died knowing someone really loved her
From life's bramble bush I picked a rose
This bed of roses that I lay on where I was taught to love a man
This bed of roses where I'm livin' is the only kind of life I'll understand