She was called a scarlet woman by the people
Who would go to church but left me in the streets
With no parents of my own I never had a home
And a eighteen year old boy 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
woman of the streets, this lady Rose

This bed of Rose's that I lay on, where I was taught to be a man
This bed of Rose's 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 could do

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

This bed of Rose's that I lay on, where I was taught to be a man
This bed of Rose's where I'm livin' is the only kind of life I'll understand