[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

A look of half-surprise

Like a fox caught in the headlights

There was animal in her eyes

She said to me, "Can't you see

I'm not the factory kind

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 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 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

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]

She was a rare thing

Fine as a bee's wing

So fine a breath of wind might blow her away

Oh, 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]

And 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

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