Lyrics

Who’s that singing? I want to know
Sounding like a thousand years ago
Sally in her hand-me-down clothes
Deep brown eyes with a faraway look
Just like something from a picture book
There’s Sally in the doorway
Singing about a “red, red rose”*

She sang so sweet - She sang so wild
Like a woman gone mad - Like an innocent child
Sally in her hand-me-down clothes
I said, “Are you an apparition or flesh and bone?”
She said, “I’m no one at all and I’m all alone”
There’s Sally in the doorway
Singing about a red, red rose

Singing in the back yard, singing in the hall
Singing in the lane by the old stone wall
Sally in her hand-me-down clothes
She said, “In the Highlands before I was born
They sang about the flower, sang about the thorn”
There’s Sally in the doorway
Singing about a red, red rose

She stopped and I heaved a sigh
“I fear this world’s gonna blow sky high”
Sally said, “Nobody knows”
I said, “Sally, can you help me? Nothing makes sense”
She said, “That’s of no consequence”
There’s Sally in the doorway
Singing about a red, red rose

Sally, why do you sing Fare thee well?
She said, “I know but I can’t tell”
Sally in her hand-me-down clothes
Of all my days I’ll remember one
“Till all.. the rocks melt with the sun”*
Sally in the doorway
Singing about a red, red rose

* from poem by Robert Burns, “ A Red, Red Rose”