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
Searching For Lambs
June Tabor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Your journey to pursue?
Your pretty little feet they tread so neat,
Strike off the morning dew."
"I'm off to feed my father's flocks,
His young and tender lambs,
That over hills and over dales
Lie waiting for their dams."
And rest a moment here.
For there is none that you alone
That I do love so dear."
"How gloriously the sun doth shine,
How pleasant is the air.
I'd rather rest on a true love's breast
Than any other where."
"For I am thine and thou art mine,
No man shall uncomfort me.
We'll join our hands in wedded bands
And married we shall be."
The lyrics of June Tabor's Searching For Lambs tells of a conversation between two lovers, likely on a sunny morning. The man is curious as to why his love is up so early and where she is off to. She tells him that she is going to feed her father's flock of young and tender lambs that are waiting for their dams. The man pleads with her to stay with him for a moment, but the woman prefers to bask in the sun's shine while being in her true love's embrace rather than anywhere else. The woman declares her love for the man and her willingness to wed him.
The song is not just about the woman's routine responsibility of tending to her father's livestock but also a tribute to love and the devotion that one feels towards their partner. The lyrics also incorporate nature and the environment as reflected in the "morning dew" that the woman treads on and the pleasantness of the air. The song also alludes to a sense of comfort and protection that the woman feels towards the man as she declares that no one shall "uncomfort" her.
Line by Line Meaning
What makes you rise so soon, my love,
Your journey to pursue?
Why do you wake up so early, my love, and leave on a journey?
Your pretty little feet they tread so neat,
Strike off the morning dew.
Your feet are delicate, and they make a soft sound as you step on the morning dew.
I'm off to feed my father's flocks,
His young and tender lambs,
That over hills and over dales
Lie waiting for their dams.
I am going to take care of my father's cute and young lambs who are waiting for their mother over the hills and valleys.
O stay, o stay, you handsome maid,
And rest a moment here.
For there is none that you alone
That I do love so dear.
Please stay, my beautiful lady, and rest here for a while. For you are the only one that I love so much.
How gloriously the sun doth shine,
How pleasant is the air.
I'd rather rest on a true love's breast
Than any other where.
The sun is shining so beautifully, and the air is so pleasant. I would rather rest on my true love's chest than anywhere else.
For I am thine and thou art mine,
No man shall uncomfort me.
We'll join our hands in wedded bands
And married we shall be.
I belong to you, and you belong to me. No one can make me uncomfortable. We will hold our hands together and be married.
Contributed by Evan Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.