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
Elfin Knight
Kate Rusby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He blows his horn both loud and shrill
He stands so proud and he stands so still
Blow winds blow my bonny o
Blow winds blow my bonny
Blow winds blow my bonny o
Blow winds blow my bonny
The Elfin Knight stands on yon land
My true love eventually I found,
Down to the church then soon we will be bound
Blow winds blow my bonny o
Blow winds blow my bonny
Blow winds blow my bonny o
Blow winds blow my bonny
You'll make me a dress with seams of fine thread
Make me a garland of flowers for my head
Down to the church, then away we'll go to bed
Blow winds blow my bonny o
Blow winds blow my bonny
Blow winds blow my bonny o
Blow winds blow my bonny
The Elfin Knight stands on yon hill
He blows his horn both loud and shrill
He stands so proud and he stands so still
Blow winds blow my bonny o
Blow winds blow my bonny
Blow winds blow my bonny o
Blow winds blow my bonny
The song "Elfin Knight" by Kate Rusby is a traditional English ballad. The lyrics are about a young woman who encounters the Elfin Knight on two different occasions. The Elfin Knight is described as standing on a hill blowing his horn both loud and shrill. The woman asks the Elfin Knight to make her a dress with seams of fine thread and a garland of flowers for her head. She then asks him to take her to the church where they will be bound together in marriage. The Elfin Knight agrees and they go to bed together.
The song is widely interpreted as a narrative about the dangers of falling for the seductive tricks of a handsome stranger. In the first verse, it's clear that the Elfin Knight is trying to draw the woman's attention and lure her in. However, in the final verse, the Elfin Knight is back on the hill blowing his horn, implying that he has moved on and that the woman is left alone with regret. The lyrics call to the wind to blow her "bonny o," or her beautiful love, indicating her loneliness and despair.
Overall, the lyrics of "Elfin Knight" are haunting and beautiful. The tale of the woman's encounter with the magical creature is a classic example of a folk ballad that has been passed down through generations.
Line by Line Meaning
The Elfin Knight stands on yon hill
The mythical creature known as the Elfin Knight is standing on the hill
He blows his horn both loud and shrill
He blows his horn loudly and with a high pitch
He stands so proud and he stands so still
The Elfin Knight stands with pride and doesn't move
Blow winds blow my bonny o
The artist is asking for the wind to blow
Blow winds blow my bonny
The artist is asking for the wind to blow
Blow winds blow my bonny o
The singer is asking for the wind to blow
Blow winds blow my bonny
The singer is asking for the wind to blow
The Elfin Knight stands on yon land
The Elfin Knight is now standing on the land
My true love eventually I found
The artist has found their true love
Down to the church then soon we will be bound
The artist and their true love are getting married in the church
You'll make me a dress with seams of fine thread
The singer is requesting their true love to make them a dress with fine thread seams
Make me a garland of flowers for my head
The artist is requesting their true love to make them a flower garland for their head
Down to the church, then away we'll go to bed
After getting married in the church, the singer and their true love will go to bed
Contributed by Gabriella V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jo Ann O'Flanagan
Little Nothing
by Joann Flanagan
St. Zita,pray for us,
So we'll get to Heaven
Without a fuss!
Syf was your name origonally
Till you took service in the House of di Fatinelli.
Syf they christened you in your hometown.
In Lucca you lost your name and gained renoun.
St. Zita,pray for us,
So we'll get to Heaven
Without a fuss!
In the Italy of your day
When girlchildren went out to play
At their innocent childlike games
Folks added "Zita" to their names.
St. Zita,pray for us,
So we'll get to Heaven
Without a fuss!
In the di Fatinelli House they showered you with blame.
They never called you "Sif" Or "Sifzita",
Only Zita as if you had no name-
As if you were "Noone" or "Nobodyzita".
St. Zita,pray for us,
So we'll get to Heaven
Without a fuss!
It's such a pity
You lost your name in the City
Of Lucca where you found a job
Under conditions that tempted anyone to sob!
Would tempt anyone to kill,to rob!
St. Zita,pray for us,
So we'll get to Heaven
Without a fuss!
It was Nobodyzita do this!
Noonezita do that!
Your ignorance is a bottomless abyss,
You illiterate hick! You Scullian brat!
St. Zita,pray for us,
So we'll get to Heaven
Without a fuss!
Now great folk pray to you,
Name their daughters Zita
with no great ado ,
Light candles to you too!
St. Zita,pray for us,
So we'll get to Heaven
Without a fuss!
We don't say "St. Zita of Lucca",
But rather "Lucca,St.Zita's city."
Where she led a hard but holy life,
As we request not offer pity.
St. Zita,pray for us,
So we'll get to Heaven
Without a fuss!
Sandman552
1:58 this part has so much energy, it gives me goosebumps. I love this song.
Juli Starling
That's the bit that gives me magic feelings too. ^___^
Glad others are reacting the same.
My favorite ever of Kate Rusby's songs, one of my favorite songs period, and this is the song and the video where I first found Kate Rusby besides.
Magical. ^___^
Juli Starling
Verse 1: Pretty.
Verse 2: Prettier.
Verse 3: Magic and I'm under its spell.
To me it seems like magical energy, which might or might not be part of what you meant.
And, no, not in any modern pagan or Wiccan sense of the word.
More like the enchantment that is naturally part of old folk tales and old ballads.
Doesn't hurt any to have them restructured a bit by someone from modern times who can really sing them, of course. ^___^
The Tower
I just discovered this song, I don't usually go much for folk but there's just something magic about it
Juli Starling
Yes.
Literally.
But besides its being actually about magic, this song just is magic.
Enchantment. 🌟🤩⭐
Juli Starling
I knew the other elfin knight song (the one about Lady Isobel and the evil elf who tries to murder her but she kills him first) from Steeleye Span's version, before I knew this one, but then I found this and I like it even more than that one.
Not only the music by itself is enchanting but there is just something extremely enchanting about how this elf knight is good and the girl marries him. 😍😍😍
Magical love. Magical wedding. Magical marriage. They'll probably have magical children together. Beautiful. 😍😊😚
But besides all that...there's just something about it too lovely to be described in any words.
Pure enchantment, that is. Real magic. Bewitching. 🌟🤩⭐🌠💫
Both songs are traditional Scottish folk songs but they are made even more enchanting when the right people sing them just right.
Especially this one. ^___^
Ronnie de Noube
@Juli Starling you have the truth of it.
KittyStarlight
@Ronnie de Noube Thank you.
I love fairy tales and faerie tales.
🧚🧚♂️🧚♀️
Baeloth
Also having someone like Kate Rusby sing folk songs with such an beautiful voice makes it even better.
Sharko diles
Almost a decade ago I discovered this video and it introduced me to folk music and to Kate Rusby. The joy and magic from this song and the album the song is in really helped me through my depression and probably kept me from hurting myself back then. It was a long time ago now, but thank you for uploading this.