The Briar and the Rose I fell asleep down by the stream And there I had the strangest dream And down by Brennan’s Glenn there grows A briar and a rose There’s a tree in the forest But I don’t know where I built a nest out of your hair And climbing up into the air A briar and a rose I don’t know how long it has been But I was born in Brennan’s Glenn And near the end of spring there grows A briar and a rose I picked the rose one early morn I pricked my finger on a thorn They’d grown so close Their winding wove The briar around the rose I tried to tear them both apart I felt a bullet in my heart And all dressed up in spring’s new clothes The briar and the rose And when I’m buried in my grave Tell me so I will know Your tears will fall To make love grow The briar and the rose And when I’m buried in my grave Tell me so I will know Your tears will fall To make them grow The briar and the rose Your tears will fall To make them grow The briar and the rose Words and music by Tom Waits ©1990, 1993 Jalma Music Inc.

Arranged by the Devil’s Rhubato Band Produced by Tom Waits Recorded by Gerd Bessler at Music Factory, Hamburg, Germany 1990 Tom Waits: Vocals Hans-Jörn Braudenberg: Organ Henning Stoll: Viola Stefan Schäfer: Bass Volker Hemken: Clarinet Track 9 on the album ‘The Black Rider’ 1993 Time: 3.50 Live versions avialable on these bootlegs: Teatro Comunale, Florence, Italy, July 24, 1999 Teatro Comunale, Florence, Italy, July 25, 1999 The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, August 27, 1999 The Orpheum Theatre, Boston, September 19, 1999 The Beacon Theatre, New York, September 25, 1999 Holly Cole did a cover version on her album 'Temptation' 1995