Flower Lady Lyrics - Live Again! - Phil Ochs

Millionaires and paupers walk the hungry street 

Rich and poor companions of the restless beat 

Strangers in a foreign land, strike a match with a trembling hand 

Learn too much to ever understand 

But nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady 

Lover's quarrel, snarl away their happiness 

Kisses crumble in a web of loneliness 

It's written by the poison pen, voices break before they bend 

The door is slammed, it's over once again 

But nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady 

Poets agonize they cannot find the words 

And the stone stares at the sculptor asks "Are you absurd?" 

The painter paints his brushes back, through the canvas runs a crack 

Portrait of the pain never answers back 

But nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady 

Soldiers disillusioned to come home from the war 

Sarcastic students tell them not to fight no more 

And they argue through the night, black is black and white is white 

Walk away both knowing they are alright 

But nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady 

Smoke dreams of escaping souls are drifting by 

Dull the pain of living as they slowly die 

Smiles change into a sneer washed away by whiskey tears 

In the quicksand of their mind they disappear 

Still nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady 

Feeble, aged a-people almost to their knees 

Complain about the present using memories 

Never found their pot of gold, wrinkled hands pound weary holes 

Each line screams out you're old, you're old, you're old 

But nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady 

And the flower lady hobbles home without a sale 

Tattered shreds of petals leave a fading trail 

Not a pause to hold the rose, even she no longer knows 

The lamp goes out the evening now is closed 

And nobody's buying flowers from the flower lady