I’m down at the Bowery oh Lord oh Lord
I’m gonna tell ya how I got here 
First I gotta shoot some dice and win 
So I can get my room again

It all started with a love so true and the angels flew 
Higher than I’d ever been 
With a sparkle in her face and her eyes and the butterfly
It all came rushing in 

A buttercup 
I lost my wife in ‘73 
She took ill, she done died on me
Now I’ve got nothing more to live for

So I packed up a bag and went
I just started wanderin’
I hid in the booze and the shadows of the night 
I just started crumblin’ 

A buttercup 
I lost my wife in ‘73 
She took ill, she done died on me 
Now I’ve got nothing more to live for 

Oh, it just don’t seem fair
I met her under a chandelier 
And time and space changed from there

A buttercup 
I lost my wife in ‘73 
She took ill, she done died on me 
Now I’ve got nothing more to live for