Richard Thompson has a back catalogue of wondrous songs and among the finest must be Beeswing. The song is inspired by Anne Briggs, a Nottingham-born folk singer who retreated from the the limelight, apparently uninterested in anything resembling fame in the folk world. In my response to Beeswing, with Anna Ling on guitar and backing vocals, I try to give the main character her own voice. In my song, a strong woman sits with her wolfhound at her feet and reflects on what Richard Thompson writes:
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
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