Rose, rose, I love you with an aching heart.
What is your future?
Now we have to part.
Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away.
Flower of Malaya, I cannot stay.
Make way, oh, make way for my eastern rose.
Men crowd in dozens everywhere she goes.
In her rickshaw, on the street, or in a cabaret.
Please make way for rose, you can hear them say.
All my life I shall remember Oriental music and you in my arms.
Perfume flowers in your tresses,
lotus scented breezes and swaying palms.
Rose, rose, I love you with your almond eyes.
Fragrant and slender,
tropical skies.
I must cross the seas again and never see you more.
Way back to my home on a distant shore.
All my life I shall remember
Oriental music and you in my arms.
Perfume flowers in your tresses,
lotus scented breezes and swaying palms.
Rose, rose, I leave you, my ship is in the bay.
Kiss me farewell, now there's nothing to say.
East is east and west is west,
our worlds are far apart.
I must leave you now, but I leave my heart.
Rose, rose, I love you with an aching heart.
What is your future?
Now we have to part.
Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away.
Flower of Malaya, I cannot stay.