Tabor's earliest public performances were at the Heart of England Folk Club (at the Fox and Vivian pub) in Leamington Spa in the mid 1960s. In the late 1960s an appearance at the Sidmouth Folk Festival led to folk club bookings and she contributed to various records. One of her earliest recordings was in 1972 on an anthology called Stagfolk Live. She also featured on Rosie Hardman's Firebird (1972) and The First Folk Review Record (1974). At the time she was singing purely traditional unaccompanied material but in 1976 she collaborated with Maddy Prior on the Silly Sisters album and tour, with a full band that included Nic Jones. It provided the launching pad that same year (1976) for her first album in her own right, Airs and Graces. She later joined again with Prior, this time using the name Silly Sisters for their duo. Starting in 1977 Martin Simpson joined her in the recording studio for three albums before he moved to America in 1987. (Simpson has returned from America to be a guest guitarist on albums in the 2000s.) After his departure, she started working closely with pianist Huw Warren.
In 1990, Tabor recorded an album with the folk-rock band OysterBand entitled Freedom and Rain. She went on tour with OysterBand, and the Rykodisc label published a limited-run promotional live album the following year. Many of her current fans first discovered her through this tour and album with the OysterBand. In 1992 Elvis Costello wrote "All This Useless Beauty" specifically for Tabor, and she recorded it on Angel Tiger.
Since then her solo albums have included:
A Quiet Eye (1999)
Rosa Mundi (2001)
An Echo of Hooves (2003)
At the Wood's Heart (2005)
Apples (2007)
Ashore (2011)
Ragged Kingdom is a 2011 album by June Tabor & Oysterband.
Since 2006, Tabor has also been working with Huw Warren and Iain Ballamy as Quercus.
Website: www.junetabor.co.uk
Mrs Rita
June Tabor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The way that you keep us poor girls here in hell
And I never will sneak to the News of the World
Oh kind Mrs. Rita
Sincere Mrs. Rita
A friend to a stranger, a ma to a girl
We earn what we earn and it isn′t too much
Enough to keep half a step higher than trash
Oh kind Mrs. Rita
Sincere Mrs. Rita
So loose with the purse strings, so free with the cash
Some guardian angel take pity and sweep me away
Seems I work every hour God sends in a day
To line the pockets of Rita O'Connor
To line the pockets of Rita O′Connor
Oh you can't call it stealing, more helping yourself
If the odd pair of nylons should fall off the shelf
And fall into somebody's handbag let′s say
Oh kind Mrs. Rita
Sincere Mrs. Rita
It sort of makes up for the pitiful pay
Oh kind Mrs. Rita
Sincere Mrs. Rita
God keep and preserve you, we′ll love you always
The song "Mrs Rita" by June Tabor is a lamentation of a poor woman who is forced to work in a sweatshop by a certain Mrs Rita. The song is sung from the perspective of a woman who is grateful to Mrs Rita for providing her with work, but at the same time, she cannot help but feel resentful towards her for keeping them confined in a hellish environment with very little pay. The woman is grateful to Mrs Rita for being a friend to strangers and a mother to most of the girls working in the sweatshop. However, she is also acutely aware that the work they do is backbreaking and earns them very little money, which only serves to line Mrs Rita's pockets.
The song is a commentary on the exploitation of vulnerable workers, especially women who were often forced to work in sweatshops, with very little pay and no job security. Mrs Rita represents the cruel capitalist system, which exploits workers while pretending to be their friend. The woman's description of Mrs Rita as "so loose with the purse strings, so free with cash" highlights the disparity between how much Mrs Rita earns and what she pays her workers. The song is a reminder that exploitation of workers is not a thing of the past but is still prevalent in some parts of the world.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh kind Mrs. Rita I never will tell
Mrs. Rita, I vow never to betray your secrets.
The way that you keep us poor girls here in hell
The girls and I feel trapped by our difficult work conditions, which you oversee.
And I never will sneak to the News of the World
I promise to keep our dealings confidential and out of the public eye.
With the chalking and cutting and stitching and such
We work hard by cutting, stitching, and ironing the garments.
We earn what we earn and it isn't too much
Our wages aren't very high, but it's enough to avoid being labeled as complete 'trash'.
Enough to keep half a step higher than trash
Our wages give us a heads-up from being entirely mocked and disconnected individuals.
Oh kind Mrs. Rita
Mrs. Rita, you have such a good heart.
Sincere Mrs. Rita
You are authentically kind and caring to me and the other girls.
So loose with the purse strings, so free with the cash
You don't hesitate to give us what you can when we need it.
Some guardian angel take pity and sweep me away
It would be a relief if a saviour could alleviate me of this exhausting job.
Seems I work every hour God sends in a day
I am exhausted by the long and draining hours I work every day.
To line the pockets of Rita O'Connor
The long hours we work does not compare to the profits that solely end up in your pockets, Mrs. Rita.
Oh you can't call it stealing, more helping yourself
The occasional taking of small items from the shop can't exactly be labelled as 'stealing', more like a necessity.
If the odd pair of nylons should fall off the shelf
Sometimes, we would take the chance a stocking, or two would accidentally fall in our bags.
And fall into somebody's handbag let's say
This could easily be explained by just stating the stockings 'fell' into our bags without our knowledge.
It sort of makes up for the pitiful pay
The occasional 'acquired' stocking makes up for the inadequate wages we have to work with.
God keep and preserve you, we'll love you always
God's blessing be bestowed to you Mrs. Rita, and the girls and I would always love and appreciate you.
Writer(s): Valenzuela Jesse M, Swafford James Gerard
Contributed by Samantha J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jos Behaeghel
I had the marvellous experience of having a dream coming true, many years ago. It happened in the Waranda (Turnhout, Belgium). After her set, June Tabor joined Richard in his set for bringing together this marvellous song. Still a favorite of mine! June told me afterwards that they had practised the song together in 5 minutes!