Richard Thompson
Beeswing (Live)
[Verse 1]
I was eighteen when I came to town
They called it the Summer of Love
Burnin' babies, burnin' flags
The hawks against the dove
I took a job at the steamin'
Way down on Cauldrum Street
And I fell in love with a laundry girl
That was workin' next to me

[Verse 2]
Brown hair zig-zagged around her face
And a look of half-surprise
Like a fox caught in the headlights
There was animal in her eyes
And she said to me, "Can't you see
I'm not the factory kind
And if you don't take me out of here
I'll lose my mind"

[Chorus]
She was a rare thing
Fine as a bee's wing
So fine a brеath of wind might blow her away
And she was a lost child
She was runnin' wild
Shе said, "So long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
You wouldn't want me any other way"
[Verse 3]
We busked around the market towns
Fruit pickin' down in Kent
We could tinker pots and pans
And knives wherever we went
We were campin' down the Gower one time
And the work was mighty good
She wouldn't wait for the harvest
I thought we should

[Verse 4]
I said to her we'll settle down
And get a few acres dug
We'll have fire burnin' in the hearth
And babies on the rug
She said, "Oh man, you foolish man
That surely sounds like hell
You might be lord of half the world
You'll not own me as well"

[Chorus]
Oh, she was a rare thing
Fine as a bee's wing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
And she was a lost child
She was runnin' wild
She said, "So long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
You wouldn't want me any other way"
[Verse 5]
We were drinkin' more in those days
Our tempers reached a pitch
Like a fool I let her run away
When she took the ramblin' itch
And the last I heard she's livin' rough
Back on the Derby beat
With a bottle of White Horse in her pocket
A wolfhound at her feet

[Verse 6]
They say that she got married once
To a man called Romany Brown
Even a gypsy caravan
Was too much like settlin' down
They say her rose has faded
Rough weather and hard booze
Maybe that's the price you pay
For the chains that you refuse

[Chorus]
Oh, she was a rare thing
Fine as a bee's wing
And I miss her more than ever words can say
If I could just taste
All of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
I wouldn't want her any other way
[Guitar Solo]

[Outro]
If I could hold her in my arms today
I wouldn't want her any other way