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 Jute Mill Song
June Tabor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And we poor shifters canna get nae rest
Shifting bobbins coarse and fine
They fairly make you work for your ten and nine
O, dear me, I wish this day were done
Running up and doon the Pass is nae fun
Shiftin', piecin', spinning warp, weft and twine
O, dear me, the world is ill-divided
Them that works the hardest are the least provided
But I maun bide contented, dark days or fine
There's no much pleasure living offa ten and nine
The Jute Mill Song by June Tabor is a very powerful and emotional representation of the hardships faced by the workers in the jute mills during the Industrial Revolution. The song is told from the perspective of a shifter, one of the workers in the mills, who struggles with the long hours and hard labor required for a meager wage of ten and nine pence. The opening line, "O, dear me, the mill is running fast," sets the scene for the frenzied pace of work and the exhausting demands made on the shifters. The repetition of the line, "They fairly make you work for your ten and nine," emphasizes the frustration and resentment felt by the workers at their economic circumstances.
In the second verse, the shifter expresses her weariness at the constant physical demands of the job, which involves shifting bobbins of coarse and fine material. The line, "Running up and doon the Pass is nae fun," refers to the action of moving the bobbins from one end of the mill to the other. The stark reality of the worker's lives is expressed in the final line, "To feed and clothe ma bairnie offa ten and nine," highlighting the basic necessity of earning a wage to provide for one's family.
The final verse of the song is the most poignant, as the shifter reflects on the imbalance of wealth in society. "Them that works the hardest are the least provided" is a damning indictment of the economic system that exploits the labor of the working class. Despite this, the shifter accepts her fate and resigns herself to "bide contented, dark days or fine." The song is a reminder of the struggles faced by those who toiled in the mills during the Industrial Revolution, and the ongoing fight for fair wages and workers' rights.
Line by Line Meaning
O, dear me, the mill is running fast
Oh, dear me, the mill is running at a rapid pace
And we poor shifters canna get nae rest
And we, the poor workers responsible for shifting bobbins, cannot get any rest
Shifting bobbins coarse and fine
Moving bobbins, both rough and smooth
They fairly make you work for your ten and nine
They make you work very hard for your wages, meager as they are
O, dear me, I wish this day were done
Oh, dear me, I wish this day were over
Running up and doon the Pass is nae fun
Going up and down the Pass is not enjoyable
Shiftin', piecin', spinning warp, weft and twine
Moving, repairing, and spinning various threads and cords
To feed and clothe ma bairnie offa ten and nine
To provide food and clothing for my child with my meager salary
O, dear me, the world is ill-divided
Oh, dear me, the world is unfairly divided
Them that works the hardest are the least provided
Those who work the hardest are given the least
But I maun bide contented, dark days or fine
But I must remain content, whether the days are dark or fine
There's no much pleasure living offa ten and nine
There is not much joy in living on such a small wage
Contributed by Abigail V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Chas. Baird
one from the borders-
---------you can do all you will-but Scotland will not be denied--nor true love be beaten!