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The Last Rose of Summer Lyrics

I love the way
The tattered clouds
Go wind across the sky

As summer goes
And leave me
With a tear in my eye

I'm taking out my winter clothes
My garden knows what's wrong
The petals of my favorite rose
Be in the shadows dark and long

Through every year
It's very clear
I should be used
To carrying on
But I can't be found
In the garden
Singing this song

When the last
Rose of summer is gone
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Cover art for The Last Rose of Summer lyrics by Tom Waits

I always felt the Last Rose of Summer is the perfect conclusion to the joint Waits/Burroughs tragic Opera: The Black Rider. It plaintiff summing up as the main protagonist in the story laments the accidental death of his lover before he is committed to the lunatic asylum, It bought tears to my eyes when I first heard it.

I never forget when I saw a performance of the Black Rider at The Barbican theater, Maryanne Faithful singing this song. It seemed so suited to her and almost made me think of her as being 'The Last English Rose' of summer......Totally Apt I felt.

 
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