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
But an 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
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 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
And I learned all the things
That a man should know
From a woman not approved of, I suppose
She died knowing that I really loved her
Of life's bramble bush I picked a rose
This bed of roses that I lay on
Where I was taught to be a man
This bed of roses where I'm livin'
Is the only kind of life I'll understand
This bed of roses that I lay on
Where I was taught to be a man
This bed of roses where I'm livin'
Is the only kind of life I'll understand