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
Seeds Of Love
June Tabor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I sowed them in the springtime
Gathered them up in the morning so soon
While small birds sweetly sing
My garden was planted well
With flowers everywhere
I had not the liberty to choose for myself
The gardener standing by
Three flowers he gave to me
He gave me the violet, the lily and the pink
But I refused all three
The violet I did not like
Because it fades so soon
The lily and the pink I did overthink
And vowed I would wait till June
For in June is the red, red rose
And that's the flower for me
Ofttimes Have I plucked that red rosy bush
And gained a willow tree
Now the willow tree may twist
And the willow tree may twine
I wish I was lying in that young woman's arms
That once held this heart of mine
June Tabor's song "Seeds of Love" has various interpretations. It could be considered as a metaphor for a love relationship that failed to blossom or a reflection on the inevitability of change. However, the underlying message of the song is that one cannot always choose the circumstances in which they find themselves.
The first three stanzas of the song tell a story of a person who plants a garden and sows the seeds of love. They find themselves surrounded by different flowers and unable to decide which one they like the most. They are offered three flowers by a gardener, but none of them fulfills what they are looking for. Instead, they have their heart set on the red, red rose, which only blooms in June.
The last stanza reflects on the singer's longing for someone who once held their heart. The willow tree analogy represents the twists and turns of life and how the singer wishes to be in the arms of the person they once loved. The overall theme of the song seems to be about the unpredictability of life and love, and how we cannot always have control over what we want.
Line by Line Meaning
I sowed the seeds of love
I gave my heart to someone I loved
I sowed them in the springtime
I fell in love during a hopeful and lively period
Gathered them up in the morning so soon
But the love didn't last for very long
While small birds sweetly sing
During a happy and carefree moment
My garden was planted well
I tried to cultivate a good relationship
With flowers everywhere
We were surrounded by beauty and hopeful feelings
I had not the liberty to choose for myself
I didn't have control over what happened next
The flower I held most dear
The person I loved the most
The gardener standing by
The person who oversaw and influenced our relationship
Three flowers he gave to me
Three potential partners were presented to me
He gave me the violet, the lily and the pink
I had three options to choose from
But I refused all three
None of them felt right to me
The violet I did not like
One option was unappealing because they were short-lived
Because it fades so soon
They were likely to break my heart quickly
The lily and the pink I did overthink
I struggled to make a decision on the other two options
And vowed I would wait till June
I decided to keep searching for something better
For in June is the red, red rose
I believed that I would find true love in the future
And that's the flower for me
My perfect match is still out there
Ofttimes Have I plucked that red rosy bush
I've searched for love many times before
And gained a willow tree
But instead found something that twisted and turned instead of what I wanted
Now the willow tree may twist
Maybe my idea of love is twisted, and that's why I can't find it
And the willow tree may twine
Or maybe I just need to find something different than what I expected
I wish I was lying in that young woman's arms
I still long for the person I once loved
That once held this heart of mine
Who I entrusted my heart to
Contributed by Juliana R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.