But There's Never a Rose
Over here the ladies all want sweet perfume But there’s never a rose And over there the roses are frightened to bloom So they never can grow And over here they need wool For weaving their baby’s new clothes But nobody has any wool And the sheep are all lost in the harbor Lost in the harbor And over here they want diamonds to wear But there aren’t any here And over there everyone’s hiding their tears But they’re crying inside And the wall won’t come down Till they’re no longer afraid of themselves And if you don’t believe me, ask the elves And then I can come down to the harbor Down to the harbor And then I will fill the ocean back up with my tears I still have a couple more years And then I can come back to the harbor Down to the harbor Words and music by Tom Waits |
![]() Demo recorded in Hamburg, Germany, in late 1992 Tom Waits: Vocals and harmonium Time: 3.42 Track 9 on the bootleg album ‘Alice (The Original Demos)’ 1999 Track 17 on the second bootleg album ‘Alice’ 1999 Click HERE for the complete play with dialog ![]() |