*An easy version for beginners*

Am                    Dm Am
They call me 'The Wild Rose'
       C              E
But my name was Elisa Day
    Am                        Dm Am
Why they call me it, I do not know
       Am       Em7   Am
For my name was Elisa Day

         Am                          C
From the first day I saw her, I knew she was the one
    Dm                    E
She stared in my eyes and smiled
    Am                             C
For her lips were the color of the roses
     Dm                       E
That grew down the river, all bloody and wild

        Am                      C
When he knocked on my door and entered the room
   Dm                    E
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
         Am                  C
He would be my first man and with a careful hand
   Dm                      E
He wiped at the tears that ran down my face

     Am                Dm Am
They call me 'The Wild Rose'
       C              E
But my name was Elisa Day
         Am                     Dm Am
Why they call me that, I do not know
       Am       E7    Am
For my name was Elisa Day

       Am                          C
On the second day, I brought her a flower
    Dm                          E
She was more beautiful than any woman I've seen
         AM                    C
I said, "Do you know where the wild roses grow
   Dm                    E
So sweet and scarlet and free?"

       Am                         C
On the second day, he came with a single red rose
          Dm                         E
He said, "Give me your loss and your sorrow"
  Am                   C
I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed
      Dm                           E
"If I show you the roses, will you follow?"

  Am                   Dm Am
They call me 'The Wild Rose'
       C              E
But my name was Elisa Day
         Am                     Dm Am
Why they call me that, I do not know
       Am       E7    Am
For my name was Elisa Day

       Am                           C
On the third day, he took me to the river
   Dm                         E
He showed me the roses and we kissed
        Am                       C
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
      Dm                    E
As he knelt above me with a rock in his fist

       Am                             C
On the last day, I took her where the wild roses grow
    Dm                        E
She lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
      Am                             C
And I kissed her goodbye, said, "All beauty must die"
      Dm                      E
And I lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

  Am                Dm Am
They call me 'The Wild Rose'
       C              E
But my name was Elisa Day
         Am                     Dm Am
Why they call me that, I do not know
       Am       E7    Am
For my name was Elisa Day
       Am       E7    Am
For my name was Elisa Day