Midweek and we reached Scarlet Town
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I was almost dying of thirst
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We parked the car in some old schoolyard
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The windscreen caked in dirt
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There was no water in the engine left
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No tread upon the tyres
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The electrics were broke cos you went mad
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You ripped out all the wires
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Across the road, a small cafe
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In this state of disrepair
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You went for papers and a shave
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So I saved you a chair
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I knew it wasn't the journey's end
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And that your dream was incomplete
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But I just could not stand anymore
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I was dead upon my feet
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I was dead upon my feet
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There's nothing there in the market square
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But the ghost of the Scarlet Town Crier
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I was dead upon my feet
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I sing the red rose and the briar
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I sing the red rose and the briar
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The waitress told me her life story
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She'd always meant to up and go
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She wiped a cup on her red pinafore
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As we waited for you to show
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And I told her just a little of you
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But left the picture incomplete
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You still weren't there to paint it in person
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So I skipped out on the street
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I skipped out on the street
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The newsagent grinned, he said yes you'd been in
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You bought a local paper and some shades
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The washroom attendant said that you'd freshened up
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That you'd left but you hadn't paid
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And I couldn't figure out where you were
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So I went back just to look near the car
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There was nothing there where it should have been
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Just oil on dirt and tar
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Just oil on dirt and tar
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There's nothing there in the market square
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But the ghost of the Scarlet Town Crier
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And there was nothing there where it should have been
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I sing the red rose and the briar
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I sing the red rose and the briar
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I saw it parked way down the street
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In a garage off on the right
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And a man said 'get your hands off son'
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I just traded that wreck for a motorbike
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There was nothing left of mine inside
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Not even the broken radio
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And I couldn't figure out where that left me
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So I went back to look for Rose
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The Cafe Rouge was a lunchtime rush
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Of regulars yelling for food
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The service in there left a lot to be desired
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And all the regulars were getting rude
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I saw an apron thrown over a chair
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A note said 'hey John we're gone, we're gone'
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And I just smiled cos I loved you both
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So I put the apron on
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I put the apron on
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There's nothing there in the market square
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But the ghost of the Scarlet Town Crier
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And I just put the apron on
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I sing the red rose and the briar
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I sing the red rose and the briar
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The Red Rose And The Briar
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John Wesley Harding |