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
The Fairest of All Yarrow
Kate Rusby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And Billy's wondrous bonny
And Billy promised to marry me
If e'er he'd marry any
And Billy promised to marry me
If e'er he'd marry any
Late last night I'm in my bed
And there I waited all night long
My heart won't take another
And there I waited all night long
My heart won't take another
Came you by yon water side
Past the rose and lily
Or came you by yon meadow green
Or saw you my sweet Billy
Or came you by yon meadow green
Or saw you my sweet Billy
She's sought him east
And she's sought him west
She sought him broad and narrow
She sought him into another's arms
The fairest of all Yarrow
She sought him into another's arms
The fairest of all Yarrow
The lyrics of "The Fairest of All Yarrow" by Kate Rusby tells the story of a girl named Mary who is deeply in love with a man named Billy. Mary claims that Billy is the fairest and rarest man she has ever met, and that he promised to marry her if he ever marries anyone. However, Mary soon discovers that Billy has broken his promise and has gone off with the "fairest of all Yarrow", leaving Mary heartbroken and alone.
The verses in the song describe Mary waiting for Billy in her bed all night, wondering where he is and whether he still loves her. She then goes out to search for him in different places, including by the water side, the meadow green, and even broad and narrow areas. Unfortunately, Mary's search is in vain as she eventually finds out that Billy has chosen someone else over her.
This song captures the feelings of unrequited love and heartbreak, as well as the pain of realizing that someone you love has chosen someone else over you. The lyrics are simple yet poignant, and the melody adds to the overall melancholy feel of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Billy's fair and Billy's rare
Billy is handsome and unique
And Billy's wondrous bonny
Billy is wonderfully beautiful
And Billy promised to marry me
Billy made a promise to marry me
If e'er he'd marry any
Only if he marries anyone else
Late last night I'm in my bed
Last night I was in bed
Thinking on my lover
Thinking about my boyfriend
And there I waited all night long
I waited there all night
My heart won't take another
My heart can't take it anymore
Came you by yon water side
Did you come by the water side
Past the rose and lily
Past the flowers
Or came you by yon meadow green
Did you come by the green meadow
Or saw you my sweet Billy
Did you see my sweet Billy
She's sought him east
She searched for him in the east
And she's sought him west
And she searched for him in the west
She sought him broad and narrow
She searched for him far and wide
She sought him into another's arms
She searched for him and found him with someone else
The fairest of all Yarrow
The most beautiful person in Yarrow
Contributed by Anna Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Bog Trotter
Seeing her live is magic- she's so down to earth and unpretentious.
Simba
Her voice with the accordion & fiddle at the end just heavenly!!!
Heath Savage
Glorious. She is a rare gem.
Elijah G. Bortnikoff
Lots of love from Russia! <333 She is amazing!
madheadmadDAZ
This is such emotional music, I love it :) Makes me want to cry
syrvagabon
Wonderful. She is so talented. I love the way she sings, the way she writes, and how her songs harken back to another age. It is like listening to 19th Century Irish folk music sung by a 21st Century genius who sounds like an angel. When I listen to her, my mind and soul drift off towards green shores, fair winds, and a rising sun.
grofys
this has a completely different feeling than when the song is sung in its alternate tune.
jgwilson5
Beautiful!! I hope KR comes to Seattle or Vancouver BC some day. If not I guess I'll have to visit the UK to see her live!
sakurakeys
I really love this, but I wish she's kept more of the original ballad in it; the change of 'Willie' into 'Billy' is of course totally fine but I do prefer the original ending, in which the speaker finds [Billy] after he's drowned in the water of Gamrie. In most versions, the speaker joins their love, so to speak, in the water of Gamrie, although in others it just ends when they find the body. This version is really lovely, though, I was really happy to stumble across it.
Vicki Somerton
I believe you might be thinking of a different song - The Drowned Lovers. Kate has also done an amazing version of that one which is no doubt on here somewhere...