This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
I was nineteen when I came to town
They called in the Summer of Love
They were burningbabies, burning flags
The Hawks against the Doves
I took a job in the STeamie
Down on Cauldrum Street
I fell in love with a laundry girl
Was working next to me
She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child
She was running wild, she said
As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
And you wouldn't want me any other way
Brown hair zig-zag round her face
And a look of half-surprise
Like a fox caught in the headlights
There was an animal in her eyes
She said, young man, O can't you see
I'm not the factory kind
If you don't take me out of here
I'll surely lose my miind
She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child
She was running wild, she said
As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
And you wouldn't want me any other way
We busked around the market towns
And picked fruit down in Kent
And 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 O man, you foolish man
It surely sounds like hell
You might be lord of half the world
You'll not own me as well
She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child
She was running wild, she said
As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
And you wouldn't want me any other way
We was camping down the Gower one time
The work was pretty good
She thought we shouldn't wait for frost
And I thought maybe we should
We were drinking more in those days
And tempers reached a pitch
Like a fool I let her run
With the rambling itch
Last I hear she's sleeping out
Back on Derby beat
White Horse in her hip pocket
And a wolfhound at her feet
And they say she even marriend once
A man named Romany Brown
But even a Gypsy caravan
Was too much settliing down
And they say her flower is faded now
Hard weather and hard booze
But maybe that's just hte price you pay
For the chains you refuse
She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
And I missher more than ever words could say
If I could just taste
All of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Then I wouldn't want her any other way
They called in the Summer of Love
They were burningbabies, burning flags
The Hawks against the Doves
I took a job in the STeamie
Down on Cauldrum Street
I fell in love with a laundry girl
Was working next to me
She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child
She was running wild, she said
As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
And you wouldn't want me any other way
Brown hair zig-zag round her face
And a look of half-surprise
Like a fox caught in the headlights
There was an animal in her eyes
She said, young man, O can't you see
I'm not the factory kind
If you don't take me out of here
I'll surely lose my miind
She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child
She was running wild, she said
As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
And you wouldn't want me any other way
We busked around the market towns
And picked fruit down in Kent
And 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 O man, you foolish man
It surely sounds like hell
You might be lord of half the world
You'll not own me as well
She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child
She was running wild, she said
As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
And you wouldn't want me any other way
We was camping down the Gower one time
The work was pretty good
She thought we shouldn't wait for frost
And I thought maybe we should
We were drinking more in those days
And tempers reached a pitch
Like a fool I let her run
With the rambling itch
Last I hear she's sleeping out
Back on Derby beat
White Horse in her hip pocket
And a wolfhound at her feet
And they say she even marriend once
A man named Romany Brown
But even a Gypsy caravan
Was too much settliing down
And they say her flower is faded now
Hard weather and hard booze
But maybe that's just hte price you pay
For the chains you refuse
She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
And I missher more than ever words could say
If I could just taste
All of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Then I wouldn't want her any other way
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Punchline
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Amazing
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Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
It is too bad this song has so few comments. Let's remedy that. To folks like me not native to Britain, some of the words were not familiar, so here are my annotations and comments:
The Summer of Love was 1967, the summer when most of the world became aware of hippies and the counter-culture. Extensive press coverage of the Human Be-In and the mass influx to the Haight-Ashbury district inspired young people to adopt the hippie style and philosophy. '67 also marked a big increase in war protesting (burning flags), awareness of war atrocities (burning babies), and political polarization over the war (hawks against the doves.)
Our narrator was 19 in 1967, making him approximately the age of Richard Thompson. He came to town, so we may deduce he grew up on a farm or in a rural community.
He got a job in a steamie, or large steam laundry. It was on, as mentioned by another poster, Cauldrum St. which is in Dundee, Scotland.
The unnamed girl--if not a hippie proper--has the same free spirit attitude of one. She isn't made for a conventional job or lifestyle. Most hippies eventually dropped back in to society, though this is the story of the consequences of holding on to the life too long.
Busking means street performing. It can refer to the old organ-grinders, or street mimes, or musicians or jugglers or clowns. Basically any kind of performing in a public place for money. It is one step above panhandling, so buskers are sometimes welcome and sometimes not.
“..and we could tinker..” Tinkering refers to tinsmithing. A tinker is someone who repairs things of light metal, especially tin. It is also a synonym for a gypsy or traveler, as itinerant workers often did this kind of work to support themselves.
“working down the Gower” The Gower is a peninsula on the coast of Wales known for its natural beauty. “The work,” the two lovers do there is probably itinerant farm work, since later the narrator speaks of waiting for the frost.
“sleeping rough back on the Derby beat..” Derby is a city in the English midlands that was an early industrial center and major railway point. One might assume this means she is probably working as a prostitute there, or perhaps is simply a vagrant sleeping where she can.
“White Horse in her hip pocket..” White Horse has been a popular Scotch Whiskey for over a century. Read as: She has become an alcoholic.
“..and a wolfhound at her feet.” The narrator says she had animal in her eyes. It is left to an animal now to be her only faithful companion.
“Romany Brown..” Romany, or Romani, is an ethnic group whose origins are traced back to India, but now exist almost all over the world. The word “gypsy” was misapplied to them in the belief that they originated in Egypt.
The song ends with an expression of longing for the girl as she was, but that necessarily means the narrator would have to be as he was. It is not just a need to hold her again, but to return to a time when he could be carefree, without responsibility, and his whole life was ahead of him. It was a relationship that was doomed from the beginning, yet he wouldn’t want her to be anything but the wild, free, innocent first love of his youth. You lose all those qualities with the passage of time, and we all ache with the need to hang on to them.
this entry is so fabulous that i created an account to tell you that. you've provided meaning to a hauntingly evocative song that i've always loved but never fully understood. thank you, rickolini
@Atman, an excellent answer!<br /> <br />
@Atman I created an account to comment on this entry as well!! I've loved this site for so long, but this entry made me create an account. What a great interpretation of a great song. I especially loved the comment that "this is the story of the consequences of holding on to the life too long." Thank you, and now I predict many entries for me on this glorious website.
@Atman I created an account to comment on this entry as well!! I've loved this site for so long, but this entry made me create an account. What a great interpretation of a great song. I especially loved the comment that "this is the story of the consequences of holding on to the life too long." <br /> <br /> I love the last lyric, about the price you pay for the chains you refuse, brilliant and poignant. She wanted to be free all her life, and now that freedom has taken it's toll. <br /> <br /> Thank you, and now I predict many entries for me on this glorious website.