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 Bonny Hind
June Tabor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's there she spied a good young squire as good as e'er be seen
It's May she comes and may she goes down by the Holland green
And it's there she spied a brisk young squire as brisk as e'er be seen
"Come give to me your green mantle, give me your maidenhead
If you won't give me your green mantle, give me your maidenhead"
He's ta'en her by the milk-white hand and gently laid her down
And it's when he raised her up again giving her a silver comb
"Perhaps there may be bends kinds or perhaps there may be none
But if you be a courtier pray tell to me your name"
"Oh I am no courtier" he says "but new come from the sea
Oh I am no courtier" he said "but when I courted thee
They call me Jack when I'm abroad, sometimes they call me John
But when I'm in my father's bower, oh, Jock Randal is my name"
"You lie, you lie, you bonny lad, so loud I hear you lie
For I am Lord Randal's only daughter, he has no more than me"
"You lie, you lie, you bonny lass, so loud I hear you lie
For I am Lord Randal's very own son that new come from the sea"
She's puttin' down by her side and out she's taken a knife
And she's put in in her own heart's blood and taken away her life
And he's taken his only sister with a big tear in his eye
And he's buried his only sister beneath the Holland tree
It's soon he's hied him o'er the dales his father due to see
"It's oh and woe for my bonny hind beneath the Holland tree"
"What care you for a bonny hind, for it you need not care
There's eight score hinds in yon green park and five score is to spare"
"Oh score at them a silver shot and these you may get three
But it's oh and woe for my bonny hind beneath the Holland tree"
"What care you for your bonny hind, for it you need not care
Take you the best and give me the worst since plenty is to spare"
"I care not for your hinds, kind sir and I care not for your fee
But it's oh and woe for my bonny hind beneath the Holland tree"
"Oh were you up your sister's bower, your sister fair to see
Oh you'll think no more on your bonny hind beneath the Holland tree…"
The Bonny Hind is a ballad that tells a tragic story of a disguised man who seduces a young woman and turns out to be her own brother. The story sets in May, a season of love, fertility, and growth, which the woman personifies as she strolls down the garden and Holland green. She encounters a handsome squire and is infatuated to the extent that she offers to give him her virginity or her green mantle. The young man, after accepting her offer, introduces himself as Jack or Jock Randal and names her as his sister. However, the woman denies it, and the man insists that he is the Lord Randal's son, who had been away at sea.
As the conversation takes a turn, the woman draws a knife and kills herself. The squire, who was actually her brother, is grief-stricken and buries her beneath the Holland tree. He returns home to find out that his father has killed his prized bonny hind (a female deer) and dismisses his son's sorrow by saying there are plenty more. The squire rebukes his father and mourns the loss of his sister, whom he should have protected.
Line by Line Meaning
It's May she comes and may she goes down by the garden green
In the month of May, she wanders down by the garden green.
It's there she spied a good young squire as good as e'er be seen
In the garden, she noticed a handsome young man like no other.
Come give to me your green mantle, give me your maidenhead
Hand over your cloak and virginity to me.
He's ta'en her by the milk-white hand and gently laid her down
He took her by the hand and gently laid her down.
And it's when he raised her up again giving her a silver comb
And when he lifted her up, he gave her a silver comb.
Perhaps there may be bends kinds or perhaps there may be none
Perhaps there are different titles, or there could be none.
But if you be a courtier pray tell to me your name
But if you're a nobleman, please tell me your name.
Oh I am no courtier he says but new come from the sea
I am not a nobleman but recently arrived from the sea.
They call me Jack when I'm abroad, sometimes they call me John
My name is Jack when I am away, and sometimes it's John.
For I am Lord Randal's only daughter, he has no more than me
You lie, as I am Lord Randal's only daughter and heir.
You lie, you lie, you bonny lass, so loud I hear you lie
You are lying loudly, fair lady.
For I am Lord Randal's very own son that new come from the sea
You are wrong, as I am Lord Randal's own son who recently returned from the sea.
And she's put in in her own heart's blood and taken away her life
She stabbed herself in the heart and ended her own life.
And he's buried his only sister beneath the Holland tree
He buried his only sister beneath the Holland tree.
It's soon he's hied him o'er the dales his father due to see
He quickly went to see his father across the hills.
What care you for a bonny hind, for it you need not care
Why do you bother about a pretty female deer, when there are so many others around?
There's eight score hinds in yon green park and five score is to spare
There are a hundred and sixty other deer in the park that you can choose from.
But it's oh and woe for my bonny hind beneath the Holland tree
But my pretty deer beneath the Holland tree makes me sad.
Take you the best and give me the worst since plenty is to spare
You take the best deer, and I will have the worst because there are so many.
I care not for your hinds, kind sir and I care not for your fee
I do not want any of your deer, and I am not interested in your money.
Oh were you up your sister's bower, your sister fair to see
If you had visited your lovely sister in her chamber,
Oh you'll think no more on your bonny hind beneath the Holland tree…
You would not be thinking of your pretty deer beneath the Holland tree anymore.
Contributed by Isaiah I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.