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
Windy City
June Tabor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But the lines that bound an empire do not run here anymore
Hear the hooters calling at the breaking of the day
They call to wake the master, but the master's gone away
And it's goodbye, windy city
You widow dressed in black
I'm going someplace warmer
Never coming back
You wore yourself to shadow
Your fingers to the bone
You raised too many children
Now you watch them leaving home
And all your rooms are narrow
All your skies are clouds
Do you know what love really is
Can you say the word out loud
And it's goodbye, windy city
You widow dressed in black
I'm going someplace warmer
And I'm never coming back
Never coming back
We went to church on Sunday
We wore our Sunday best
We went to work on Monday
The damned just like the blessed
Just like the blessed
Some walk down by the water To see the seagulls cry
You can spend your whole life fishing and watch your day go drifting by
I hear the hooters calling, but I cannot stop or stay
The train is in the station and it's taking me away
So it's goodbye, windy city
You widow dressed in black
I'm going someplace warmer
And I'm never coming back
No, never coming back
Yes, it's goodbye, windy city
You widow dressed in black
I'm going someplace warmer
And I'm never coming back
Never...
The lyrics to June Tabor’s song, “Windy City,” explore the theme of leaving a place that has become too familiar and restrictive. The song describes the Windy City, possibly a reference to Chicago, as a place where the lines that once bound an empire no longer exist. The hooters call out at dawn to wake the absent master, but the person has already left. The singer bids farewell to the city, saying that they are going to a warmer place and never coming back.
The song expresses a sense of restlessness and a desire for change. The Windy City is depicted as a place where people work themselves to the bone, raise too many children, and then watch them leave. The narrow rooms and cloudy skies of the city symbolize a life that is too constrained and lacks opportunity. The singer wonders whether the people in the city understand what love really is and whether they can even say the word out loud.
In the end, the singer decides to leave this restrictive and confining environment, represented by the Windy City, and go to a place that is warmer and more open. The song suggests that there is more to life than just staying in one place and settling for what is familiar.
Line by Line Meaning
Somewhere in the ether they are talking ship to shore
Communication is occurring between people on ships and those on land but no longer in this city
But the lines that bound an empire do not run here anymore
The infrastructure that once provided power and communication to this city is no longer in operation
Hear the hooters calling at the breaking of the day
The sounds of work and industry can be heard as the day begins
They call to wake the master, but the master's gone away
The workers' calls to the one in charge are in vain as that person is no longer present
And it's goodbye, windy city
The singer is leaving this place behind
You widow dressed in black
The city is personified as a mourning widow
I'm going someplace warmer
The singer desires a change to a more pleasant climate
And I'm never coming back
The singer is determined to leave this city and never return
You wore yourself to shadow
The city has depleted its resources and worn itself out
Your fingers to the bone
The people of this city have worked themselves to the point of exhaustion
You raised too many children
The city has become overpopulated
Now you watch them leaving home
The people are leaving the city behind, perhaps in search of better opportunities
And all your rooms are narrow
The living spaces in the city are cramped
All your skies are clouds
The city often experiences cloudy weather
Do you know what love really is
The city is questioned on its understanding of love
Can you say the word out loud
The city is challenged to vocalize its belief in love
We went to church on Sunday
Sunday religious services were attended
We wore our Sunday best
The people dressed formally for these occasions
We went to work on Monday
Work resumed at the beginning of the week
The damned just like the blessed
Everyone is subject to the same fate
Some walk down by the water to see the seagulls cry
People come to the shoreline to observe nature
You can spend your whole life fishing and watch your day go drifting by
A warning that a life spent fishing might lead to a feeling of aimlessness
I hear the hooters calling, but I cannot stop or stay
The singer acknowledges the continuing sounds of the city but is committed to leaving
The train is in the station and it's taking me away
The singer is physically departing from the city
No, never coming back
A restatement of the determination to avoid returning to this place
Contributed by Thomas T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
max
@pokonyan007 Thanks to you greetings from Italy.