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
The Banks of the Sweet Primroses
June Tabor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To view the field and to take the air.
Down by the banks of the sweet prim-a-roses,
'Twas there I beheld a most lovely fair.
I said, "Fair maid, and why do you wander?
And what's the occasion of all your grief?
I'll make you as happy as any lady
"Stand off, stand off, for you are deceitful,
You are the false deceiving young man, 'tis plain.
'Tis you that has caused my poor heart to wander
And to give me comfort lies all in vain."
"Oh, I'll go down to some lonesome valley
Where no man on earth there shall me find,
Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices
And every moment blows blusterous wind."
So come all young men with a mind for courting,
Won't you pay attention to what I say?
For there's many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a bright sunshiny day.
The Banks of the Sweet Primroses is a traditional English folk song, which tells the story of a young man who comes across a beautiful maiden crying by the banks of the sweet primroses. He offers to make her happy if only she would let him help, but she rebuffs his advances, accusing him of being deceitful and causing her heart break. The maiden then decides to retreat to a place where she can be alone, where the wind blows strong and where the birds sing with different voices. The song, while short, is full of emotion and paints a vivid picture of a chance encounter and of the complexities of the human heart.
June Tabor's rendition of the song brings out the melancholy tone of the lyrics with every note. The lyrics tell a story of heartbreak, loss, and bitter sorrow. This is further emphasized by June Tabor's delivery, which is filled with emotion and rawness, making the song feel both timeless and deeply personal. Even the instrumental arrangement of the song is equally bleak, with the gentle strumming of the guitar, the plaintive fiddle playing, and the melancholy vocals echoing across the verses.
Line by Line Meaning
As I walked out on a midsummer's morning
I went out for a walk on a summer morning
To view the field and to take the air.
To see the fields and to breathe in the fresh air
Down by the banks of the sweet prim-a-roses,
By the side of the beautiful primroses,
'Twas there I beheld a most lovely fair.
It was there that I saw a beautiful woman.
I said, "Fair maid, and why do you wander?
I asked her, "Excuse me, why are you wandering?
And what's the occasion of all your grief?
And what could be causing your sadness?
I'll make you as happy as any lady
I'll make you happy like any other lady
If you will grant me one small relief."
If you will just give me a little help.
"Stand off, stand off, for you are deceitful,
"Stay away from me, you are dishonest,
You are the false deceiving young man, 'tis plain.
You are a lying young man, it's obvious.
'Tis you that has caused my poor heart to wander
It's you who made my heart wander
And to give me comfort lies all in vain."
And your words of comfort will not help me.
"Oh, I'll go down to some lonesome valley
"I'll go to a valley where nobody can find me,
Where no man on earth there shall me find,
Where no man on this earth can find me,
Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices
Where even the little birds' voices sound different,
And every moment blows blusterous wind."
And the wild wind blows every moment."
So come all young men with a mind for courting,
So all young men who want to court someone,
Won't you pay attention to what I say?
Listen closely to what I am saying.
For there's many a dark and a cloudy morning
Because a lot of mornings seem dark and cloudy
Turns out to be a bright sunshiny day.
But they can end up being bright and sunny.
Contributed by Layla W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Lynne CeeGee
At last! A version you can actually understand! I've listened to five others trying to get some sense of this song - some big names too. Either too much instrumental or words sung with such weird pronunciation you couldn't make out what she was singing! How lovely to hear this pure and beautiful version.
Keith Keller
So lovely......
Dr John Kelliher
~ so sweet.
Peter Worsley
"Where the pretty little songbirds do change their voices" I wonder what this means? was there a belief that such a place existed?
Keith Keller
Sharing and Thanks!
G.P Moore
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