This version is based on live performances of Maeve Gilchrist's guitar/harp arrangement.
[Verse]
G C G C G
I was eighteen when I came to town they called it the summer of love
G C G Em D C
Burning babies burning flags, the hawks against the doves
G C G C G
I took a job at the steaming way down on Caltrim St,
G C G Em D C
Fell in love with a laundry girl that was workin' next to me
[Chorus]
Em D G (G D)
She was a rare thing fine as a bee's wing
Em D C
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
Em D G (G D)
She was a lost child, she was runnin' wild. She said,
Em D C
"So long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
Am D C G
You wouldn't want me any other way."
[Verse]
G C G C G
Brown hair zig-zagged across her face and a look of half surprise,
G C G Em D C
Like a fox caught in the headlights there was animal in her eyes,
G C G C G
She said, "young man, oh can't you see? I'm not the factory kind,
G C G Em D C
If you don't help me out of here I'll surely lose my mind"
[Chorus]
Em D G (G D)
She was a rare thing fine as a bee's wing
Em D C
So fine that I might crush her where she lay
Em D G (G D)
She was a lost child, she was runnin' wild. She said,
Em D C
"So long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
Am D C G
You wouldn't want me any other way."
[Verse]
G C G C G
We busked around the market towns, fruit-pickin' down in Kent
G C G Em D C
We tinkered pots and pans or knives everywhere we went
G C G C G
I said to her we might settle down, get a few acres dug,
G C G Em D C
A fire blazing in the hearth, a baby on the rug
G C G C G
She said "Oh man, you foolish man! That surely sounds like hell,
G C G Em D C
You might be lord of half the world, but you'll not own me as well!"
[Chorus]
Em D G (G D)
She was a rare thing fine as a bee's wing
Em D C
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
Em D G (G D)
She was a lost child, she was runnin' wild. She said,
Em D C
"So long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
Am D C G
You wouldn't want me any other way."
[Verse]
G C G C G
We were busking down the Gower one time, the work was pretty good
G C G Em D C
She wouldn't wait for the harvest - I thought may be we should.
G C G C G
We were drinking heavy in those days, and our tempers reached a pitch
G C G Em D C
Like a fool, I let her walk away when she took the rambling itch
G C G C G
Last I heard she was living rough, back on the Derby beat
G C G Em D C
A bottle of White Horse in her pocket, and a wolf hound at her feet
G C G C G
And I heard she even married once to a man called Romany Brown
G C G Em D C
But even a gypsy caravan was too much like settlin' down
G C G C G
And I heard her rose has faded now - hard weather and hard booze,
G C G Em D C
Maybe that's just the price you pay for the chains that you refuse...
[Outro]
Em D G (G D)
She was a rare thing fine as a bee's wing
Em D C
I miss her more than words could ever say
Em D G (G D)
If I could just taste all of her wildness now
Em D C
If I could hold her in my arms today
Am D C G
Then I wouldn't want her any other way