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
Hundred Hearts
Kate Rusby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Never would one stray from me
If I had a hundred hearts
Like seeds in a garden they'd grow for me
If I had a hundred eyes
You alone those eyes would see
If I had a hundred eyes
If I had a hundred tongues
They would speak of none but thee
If I had a hundred tongues
Like birds in a garden they'd sing for thee
If I had a hundred souls
Bursting fully to one who'd be
If I had a hundred souls
Like fruit in a garden upon each tree
If we had a hundred years
You could keep your hand on mine
If we had a hundred years
Like trees in a garden we'll stand entwined
Like trees in a garden we'll stand entwined
The lyrics to Kate Rusby's song "Hundred Hearts" express a deep and unwavering love for another person. The singer of the song expresses the desire to have a significant other that they can devote all their love and attention to. The first stanza describes the singer's wish for a hundred hearts that would never stray from their beloved. They also express a desire for a hundred eyes that only see their lover and a hundred tongues that would speak only their lover's name. The second stanza continues with the theme of devotion, as the singer wishes they had a hundred souls bursting fully with love for their beloved.
The final stanza of the song shifts focus to the idea of timelessness. The singer suggests that if they had a hundred years, they would spend them standing entwined with their partner, like trees in a garden. This metaphor emphasizes the singer's desire for lasting love and companionship, where they can grow and flourish together like the plants in a garden.
Overall, "Hundred Hearts" is a beautiful and poignant expression of a deep and unwavering love that is meant to last a lifetime.
Line by Line Meaning
If I had a hundred hearts
If I had countless hearts to offer
Never would one stray from me
None of them would ever lose their way
Like seeds in a garden they'd grow for me
They would grow and bloom for me endlessly, like a garden full of seeds
If I had a hundred eyes
If I had a hundred pairs of eyes
You alone those eyes would see
I would only use those eyes to look at you
Like sun in the garden they'd shine on thee
My gaze would shine on you like the sun in a beautiful garden
If I had a hundred tongues
If I were blessed with innumerable tongues
They would speak of none but thee
I would only speak of you with those tongues
Like birds in a garden they'd sing for thee
My words would sound like beautiful birds singing in a garden for you
If I had a hundred souls
If I had countless souls within me
Bursting fully to one who'd be
All of them would belong fully to the person who captures my heart
Like fruit in a garden upon each tree
Like fruits hanging from tree branches in a garden
If we had a hundred years
If we had an abundance of years to come
You could keep your hand on mine
We could spend our time holding hands
Like trees in a garden we'll stand entwined
Together, we would stand like intertwined trees in a beautiful garden
Contributed by Nathaniel W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.