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
I'll Be Wise
Kate Rusby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But I cannot resist and stop to admire him
But when evening's here, my heart it sighs
And then I′m clear; tomorrow I'll be wise
But there I see him, he smiles and I am beneath him
My ears they long to hear him
But when evening's here, my heart it sighs
Until I see him, I take a chance and then I've told him
A tender glance and then I hold him
But when evening′s here, my heart it sighs
And then I'm clear; tomorrow I′ll be wise
But there I see him, and there and then I knew I miss him
I take his hand and then I kiss him
But when evening's here, my heart it sighs
And then I′m clear; tomorrow I'll be wise
But there I see him, alas I was wrong, how I perceived him
Another girl, she has received him
Oh my poor heart almost believed him
But when evening's here, my heart it sighs
And then I′m clear; tomorrow I′ll be wise
The lyrics of Kate Rusby's song "I'll Be Wise" revolve around the cycle of falling in and out of lovе and the singer's struggle to rеsist thе charms of their аdmiration. The singer confesses that they want to walk away from their love interest, but they cannot resist admiring them. The rest of the song balances their confession of love with their resolute promise to be wise in the end.
The first verse starts with the singer seeing their love interest, and they promise themselves to walk past. However, they cannot resist and stop to admire. The second verse, the singer describes the longing they feel to hear their love interest's voice, but they remind themselves they have to be wise tomorrow. In the third verse, the singer confesses that they take a risk by expressing their feelings and hold their love interest tenderly, but they remind themselves that they have to be wise tomorrow. The fourth verse describes the singer kissing and almost believing that their love interest cares for them, only to realize that they were wrong in their perception, as their love interest is with someone else. The cycle of emotions pushes the singer to maintain their promise to be wise.
Line by Line Meaning
There, I see him, I swore I'd walk on by him
I notice him there, although I promised myself to ignore him.
But I cannot resist and stop to admire him
Despite my initial promise, my desire to look at him wins over.
But when evening's here, my heart it sighs
As nighttime comes, I feel regretful and sorrowful.
And then I'm clear; tomorrow I'll be wise
I'll make better decisions tomorrow and not let my emotions get the best of me.
Until I see him, I take a chance and then I've told him
Unless I catch a glimpse of him, I won't tell him how I feel.
A tender glance and then I hold him
A brief look, then I take him in my arms.
But when evening's here, my heart it sighs
At nighttime, I feel regretful and sorrowful.
And then I'm clear; tomorrow I'll be wise
I'll make better decisions tomorrow and not let my emotions get the best of me.
But there I see him, and there and then I knew I miss him
As soon as I lay eyes on him, I realize how much I miss him.
I take his hand and then I kiss him
I grab his hand and give him a kiss.
But when evening's here, my heart it sighs
At nighttime, I feel regretful and sorrowful.
And then I'm clear; tomorrow I'll be wise
I'll make better decisions tomorrow and not let my emotions get the best of me.
But there I see him, alas I was wrong, how I perceived him
To my dismay, I didn't read him right and was mistaken about his intentions.
Another girl, she has received him
Another girl has won him over instead.
Oh my poor heart almost believed him
I was close to believing him, and now I feel heartbroken.
But when evening's here, my heart it sighs
At nighttime, I feel regretful and sorrowful.
And then I'm clear; tomorrow I'll be wise
I'll make better decisions tomorrow and not let my emotions get the best of me.
Contributed by Lucy P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.