[Chorus]
They call me the wild rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

[Verse 1]
From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
She stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
That grew down the river, all bloody and wild

[Verse 2]
When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped at the tears that ran down my face

[Chorus]
They call me the wild rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

[Verse 3]
On the second day I brought her a flower
She was more beautiful than any woman I'd seen
I said, 'Do you know where the wild roses grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?'

[Verse 4]
On the second day he came with a single red rose
He said: 'Give me your loss and your sorrow?'
I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed
He said, 'If I show you the roses will you follow?'

[Chorus]
They call me the wild rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

[Verse 5]
On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
As he knelt above me with a rock in his fist

[Verse 6]
On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
As I kissed her goodbye, said, 'All beauty must die'
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

[Outro]
They call me the wild rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day
My name was Elisa Day
For my name was Elisa Day