Beeswing

I came to town and they called it the summer I came to town and they called it the summer I was nineteen when I came to town And they called it the summer of love They were burning babies, burning flags There were hawks against the doves I got a job in the steamie down on Cauldrum Street Fell in love with a laundry girl Who was working next to me [Chorus:] Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing So fine a breath of wind might blow her away She was a lost child, oh she was a running wild She said, "As long as there's no price on love As long as there's no price on love As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay Wouldn't want me any other way" I came to town and they called it the summer I came to town and they called it the summer Brown hair zig-zag around her face And a look of half surprise Like a fox caught in the headlights There was animal in her eyes She said, "Young man, can't you see I'm not the factory kind If you don't take me out of here I'll surely lose my mind" [Chorus] We busked around the market towns And picked fruit down in Kent We could tinker lamps and pots And knives wherever we went And I said that we might settle down Get a few acres dug Fire burning in the hearth and babies on the rug She said "Oh man, you foolish man It surely sounds like hell You may be Lord of half the world But you'll not own me as well" [Chorus] We was camping down the Gower one time And the work was pretty good She thought we shouldn't wait for the drost And I thought maybe we should We was drinking more in those days And tempers reached a pitch Like a fool I let her run With the rambling itch On the last I heard she's sleeping rough Back on the Derby beat White Horse in her hip pocket And a wolfhound at her feet And they even say she married once A man named Romany Brown But even a gypsy caravan Was too much settling down And they say her flower is faded now Hard weather and hard booze But maybe that's the price You pay for the chains you refuse [Chorus]