Beeswing chords by Richard Thompson

Artist: Richard Thompson
Song: Beeswing
Lyrics taken from live version at

Verse 1:
F
I was nineteen when I came to town
F
They called it the Summer of Love
F
They were burning babies, burning flags
    C                 Bb
The Hawks against the Doves
F
I took a job in the Steamie
F

Down on Cauldrum Street
F
I fell in love with a laundry girl
    C               Bb
Was working next to me

Chorus:
Dm
She was a rare thing
          F
Fine as a bee's wing
Dm                  C                   Bb
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
Dm
She was a lost child
        F
She was running wild, she said
Dm                    C                   Bb
As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
Gm                       C         Bb
And you wouldn't want me any other way

Verse 2:
F
Brown hair zig-zag round her face
F
And a look of half-surprise
F
Like a fox caught in the headlights
          C             Bb
There was animal in her eyes
F
She said, young man, O can't you see
F
I'm not the factory kind
F
If you don't take me out of here
     C            Bb
I'll surely lose my mind

Chorus:
Dm
She was a rare thing
          F
Fine as a bee's wing
Dm                   C                   Bb
So fine that I might crush her where she lay
Dm
She was a lost child
        F
She was running wild, she said
Dm                    C                   Bb
As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
Gm                       C         Bb
And you wouldn't want me any other way

Verse 3:
F
We busked around the market towns
F
And picked fruit down in Kent
F
And we could tinker lamps and pots
    C                Bb
And knives wherever we went
F
And I said that we might settle down
F
Get a few acres dug
F
Fire burning in the hearth
    C             Bb
And babies on the rug
F
She said O man, you foolish man
F
It surely sounds like hell
F
You might be lord of half the world
       C             Bb
You'll not own me as well

Chorus:
Dm
She was a rare thing
          F
Fine as a bee's wing
Dm                  C                   Bb
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
Dm
She was a lost child
        F
She was running wild, she said
Dm                    C                   Bb
As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
Gm                       C         Bb
And you wouldn't want me any other way

Verse 3:
F
We was camping down the Gower one time
F
The work was pretty good
F
She thought we shouldn't wait for frost
    C                  Bb
And I thought maybe we should
F
We were drinking more in those days
F
And tempers reached a pitch
F
Like a fool I let her run
C               Bb
With a rambling itch
F
Last I hear she's sleeping rough
F
Back on the Derby beat
F
White Horse in her hip pocket
      C                Bb
And a wolfhound at her feet
F
And they say she even marriend once
F
A man named Romany Brown
F
But even a Gypsy caravan
    C                 Bb
Was too much settling down
F
And they say her flower is faded now
F
Hard weather and hard booze
F
But maybe that's just the price you pay
        C          Bb
For the chains you refuse

Chorus:
Dm
She was a rare thing
          F
Fine as a bee's wing
Dm                       C                Bb
And I miss her more than ever words could say
Dm
If I could just taste
           F
All of her wildness now
Dm                  C          Bb
If I could hold her in my arms today
Gm                       C         Bb