In 2006 Isobel released a collaborative LP (Ballad of the Broken Seas) with former Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age singer Mark Lanegan, a mixture of folk and more rock-orientated music. October 2006 also saw the release of her latest album, Milkwhite Sheets, a more acoustic folk album, consisting of a mixture of traditional songs alonside Isobel's own compositions.
Isobel's band The Gentle Waves released its first album on Jeepster Records, titled The Green Fields of Foreverland, in 1999. The second Gentle Waves record, Swansong For You came out one year later. In 2002, she collaborated with Scottish jazz musician Bill Wells on a collection of Billie Holliday songs, released by Creeping Bent.
In 2003 Campbell released Amorino, the first solo album under her own name, to very good reviews. Bill Wells was featured here again, along with other jazz musicians.
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan form a unique combination of gruff vocals and dulcet voices. They have released three albums so far: Ballad of the Broken Seas, which received a nomination in the 2006 Mercury Awards, Sunday at Devil Dirt, which was released in May 2008. The album received US release in Fall 2008. And finally their third album Hawk was released in August 2010.
Are You Going To Leave Me?
Isobel Campbell Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Are you going to leave me
Would you give up your own love true
To go with a girl you never knew
My true love stands in the bower door
Combing down his yellow hair
His bonnie face I like to see
When I wore my apron low
Couldn't keep you from my door
But now my apron's to my shin
You pass me by and won't come in
I wish my baby - it was born
Smiling on his daddy's knee
And I a poor girl - dead and gone
And the green grass growing over me
Now there's a bird in your church yard
They say he's blind and cannot see
I wish it had been the same with me
Before I kept your company
I wish, I wish, but it's all in vain
I wish I was a maid again
But a maid again I will never be
Since that young man lay still with me
Are you going to leave me, love
Are you going to leave me
Would you give up your own love true
To go with a girl you never knew
The song Are You Going To Leave Me? by Isobel Campbell narrates the fear of abandonment and the pain of unrequited love. The song is a slow and melancholic ballad which is steeped in traditional Celtic folk music. The lyrics are deeply emotional and speak of a love that is unattainable and perhaps even destructive. The repetition of the question "Are you going to leave me?" speaks of the singer's insecurity and the desperate need to know whether she will be abandoned. The line "Would you give up your own love true to go with a girl you never knew" is deeply sad and shows the singer's realization that she is not the center of her lover's life.
Line by Line Meaning
Are you going to leave me, love
Asking if you will abandon me, my love
Are you going to leave me
Repeating the same question, seeking assurance
Would you give up your own love true
Asking if you would forsake your genuine love
To go with a girl you never knew
To abandon me for someone unfamiliar to you
My true love stands in the bower door
My beloved stands by the arbor's entrance
Combing down his yellow hair
Carefully tidying his blonde locks
His bonnie face I like to see
I enjoy gazing at his handsome countenance
I wonder if my love thinks of me
Curious if he is thinking about me
When I wore my apron low
In the past, when my apron length was different
Couldn't keep you from my door
You would visit me incessantly
But now my apron's to my shin
Nowadays, it's below my knees
You pass me by and won't come in
You disregard me and do not visit me anymore
I wish my baby - it was born
I wish our child had been born already
Smiling on his daddy's knee
Joyfully sitting on his father's lap
And I a poor girl - dead and gone
I would be a deceased, impoverished girl
And the green grass growing over me
With grass growing over my grave
Now there's a bird in your church yard
There is a bird at the cemetery
They say he's blind and cannot see
It's rumored that the bird is viually impaired
I wish it had been the same with me
I wish I had not seen the troubled times in life
Before I kept your company
Prior to when we were together
I wish, I wish, but it's all in vain
I hope for a different outcome, but it will not happen
I wish I was a maid again
I wish I could return to my former life as a maiden
But a maid again I will never be
But it's impossible for me to be a maiden again
Since that young man lay still with me
Because that young man shared a bed with me and we were intimate
Contributed by Kayla I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.