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, Sunday morning Begging money from a man I didn't know She took me in and wiped away my childhood A lady of the streets this woman 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 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 From 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 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 Is the only kind of life I'll understand