In the world's mighty gall'ry of pictures
Hang the scenes that are painted from life,
There's pictures of love and of pa**ion,
And there hangs a pictures of peace and of strife,
There hangs pictures of youth and of beauty'
Of old age and the blushing young bride.
They all hang on the wall, aw, but the saddest of all,
Are the picture from life's other side.
Yes, The picture from life's other side,
Someone has fell by the way;
A life has gone out with the tide
Aw, That may have been happy some day;
There a poor old mother at home
She's watching and waiting alone,
Just longing to hear from a loved one so dear,
It's just a picture from life's other side.
Now the first scene is that of a gambler
Who'd lost all of his money playin',
And then his draws his dead mother's ring from his finger
That she wore long ago on her wedding day.
Aw, it was his last earthly treasure, but he staked it
And then he bows his head that his shame he might hide,
Aw, but when they lifted his head, they found he was dead,
That's just a picture from life's other side.
Now the last scene is set down by the river,
Of a heart-broken mother and babe,
And as the harbor lights shine and they shiver,
On an outcast that no one will save;
And yet she was once a true woman,
She was somebody's darlin' and pride,
God help her, she leaps, for there's no one to weep,
It's just a picture from life's other side...