After learning to play the guitar, the fiddle, and the piano, as well as to sing, Rusby played at many local folk festivals as a child and adolescent. She came to wider attention through her duets with her friend and fellow Barnsley folk singer Kathryn Roberts on the 1995 album Kate Rusby & Kathryn Roberts.
At about this time she joined, and became the lead vocalist of, the all-female Celtic folk band The Poozies. This led to her becoming a founding member of the group Equation, which included Kathryn Roberts and Seth Lakeman. Rusby left Equation (being replaced by Cara Dillon) to follow a more traditional direction and, in 1997, released her debut solo album Hourglass produced by Scottish fiddler John McCusker (to whom Rusby was married for some time).
In 1999 Rusby recorded Sleepless which earned her a Mercury Music Prize nomination and the BBC Folk Award for Best Album and Best Folk Singer.
Rusby continues to release albums mixing traditional and self-penned songs on her own Pure Records, winning fans as diverse as Graham Coxon (who provided the illustration for her album The Girl Who Couldn't Fly) and collaborator Ronan Keating.
2008 saw the release of Sweet Bells, an album of traditional Christmas songs interpreted by Rusby.
In 2010, Rusby released the album Make the Light, a collection of self-penned songs, and in 2011 issued a second collection of Christmas songs titled While Mortals Sleep.
www.katerusby.com
Benjamin Bowmaneer
Kate Rusby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Benjamin Bowmaneer?
Have you heard how the wars began?
Castors away!
Have you heard how the wars began
When England fought to a man?
The proud tailor rode prancing away
Benjamin Bowmaneer
Shear board he made a horse,
Castors away!
From a shear board he made a horse
So he could ride across.
The proud tailor rode prancing away
From his scissors made bridle bits,
Benjamin Bowmaneer
Scissors made bridle bits,
Castors away!
From his scissors made bridle bits
To keep his horse in his wits.
The proud tailor rode prancing away
And as he rode o'er the lea,
Benjamin Bowmaneer
As he rode o'er the lea,
Castors away!
And as he rode o'er the lea,
He spied a fly on his knee.
The proud tailor rode prancing away
From his needle he made a spear,
Benjamin Bowmaneer
Needle he made a spear,
Castors away!
From his needle he made a spear
And pierce the fly in his ear.
And the proud tailor rode prancing away
From his thimble he made a bell,
Benjamin Bowmaneer
Thimble he made a bell,
Castors away!
From his thimble he made a bell
To toll the flea's funeral knell.
The proud tailor rode prancing away
And that's how the wars began,
Benjamin Bowmaneer?
That's how the wars began?
Castors away!
And thats how the wars began
When England fought to a man?
The proud tailor rode prancing
The tailor rode prancing
The tailor rode prancing away
The lyrics to Kate Rusby's song "Benjamin Bowmaneer" tell a whimsical yet intriguing story about the beginnings of war in England. The song begins with the question, "Have you heard how the wars began?" and the answer is provided in the subsequent verses. The story centers around a proud tailor named Benjamin Bowmaneer, who creates a horse out of a shear board and bridle bits out of scissors. He then uses a needle to spear a fly that lands on his knee, and creates a bell out of his thimble to toll the flea's funeral knell. The final verse asks again, "And that's how the wars began?" and ends with the line, "The proud tailor rode prancing away."
The meaning behind the lyrics is open to interpretation, as the story is so fantastical. Some suggest that it is a cautionary tale about the dangers of pride and ego, as the tailor's actions lead to conflict and war. Others see it as a playful commentary on humans' tendency to seek out conflict and drama. Regardless, the song is an entertaining and imaginative story that invites listeners to imagine a world where war begins over a tailor's prideful actions.
Line by Line Meaning
Have you heard how the wars began,
Have you heard the story about how the war started?
When England fought to a man?
When every man in England fought?
The proud tailor rode prancing away
The tailor was riding his horse proudly and happily
From a shear board he made a horse,
He made a horse using a board for cutting fabric
So he could ride across.
So he could ride his horse to travel
From his scissors made bridle bits
He made the headgear for his horse using scissors
To keep his horse in his wits.
To keep his horse calm and focused
As he rode o'er the lea,
As he rode over the countryside
He spied a fly on his knee.
He noticed a fly sitting on his knee
From his needle he made a spear,
He used his sewing needle to make a weapon
And pierce the fly in his ear.
He stabbed the fly in the ear with the weapon
From his thimble he made a bell,
He made a bell using his thimble
To toll the flea's funeral knell.
To ring the bell in honor of the flea's death
That's how the wars began
That's the story of how the war started
The tailor rode prancing
The tailor rode happily and proudly
Castors away!
A phrase used to call for the chorus of the song
Contributed by Charlotte J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.