[Verse 1]
In the world's mighty gallery of pictures
Hang the scenes that're painted from life
There hang pictures of love and of passion
And there's pictures of sorrow and strife
There hang pictures of youth and of beauty
Of old age and a blushing young bride
But the saddest of all that hang on the wall
Are the pictures from life's other side

[Chorus]
Just a picture from life's other side
Someone has fell by the way
A life has gone out with the tide
That might have been happy some day
There's a poor old mother at home
Who's watching and waiting alone
Just longing to hear from a loved one
So dear it's a picture from life's other side

[Verse 2]
Now the first scene is that of a gambler
Who's lost all his money at play and he reaches down
And takes his dead mother's ring from her finger
The one that she wore long ago on her wedding day
It's his last earthly treasure but he stakes it
Then bows his head that his shame he might hide
When they lifted his head they found he was dead
It's just a picture from life's other side

[Verse 3]
Now the last scene is that by the river
Of a heartbroken mother and babe
As the harbor lights shine and they shiver
On an outcast whom that no one can save
And yet she was once a true woman
She was somebody's darling and pride
God help her she leaps for there's no one to weep
It's a picture from life's other side