Kate Rusby Trivia

1. In the song "Game of All Fours", what sort of game did the couple play?

From Quiz The Girl who Couldn't Fly

Answer: Cards

A song featuring a couple meeting on the road. After a while they agree to play a game. Here it is cards as evidenced by the lyrics of this verse: "She cut the cards and I fell a dealing I dealt her a trump and myself the poor Jack She led off her and stole the Jack from me Saying Jack is the card I like best in your pack" The lady is only just learning the game and she wins. She must enjoy the game because in the end she says: "She answered young man, come back tomorrow We'll play the game over and over and over and over and over again" This is probably because the card game is simply a euphemism for sex. Another song with the same theme but slightly less subtle is "The Cricket Match" by the Kipper Family, or the least subtle of all "The Bonny Black Hare" by various musicians, including Fairport Convention. None of these are explicit or use a word of vulgarity but still manage to get the message across.

From Quiz A Soggy Ship

Answer: The Proud Tailor

The tailor in this song does ride away to the war, but his war is with a fly. He makes a spear out of a needle and a funeral bell out of a thimble as part of this escapade. The song comes from that large group of songs known as "trad" and is several centuries old. Some sources claim this is a political satire but no details of what it refers to seem to be known. Other sources claim it is related to the song "The Tailor and the Louse", still others that "tailor" is a corruption of another word or words. So, the true answer is no-one really knows.

From Quiz The Philosophers, Poets and Kings of Kate Rusby

Answer: Horse

Jenny in this case is a horse, I hesitate to call her a racehorse. But in the song, she wins the race as she has stamina, although initially she is far behind the sprinters. The words are shown as being traditional with the tune written by Kate Rusby. Songs about race horses, or horses that race, seem to be a common feature in the modern folk world; as examples, Richard Thompson wrote "Both Ends Burning" and Steve Knightley wrote "The Galway Farmer". In common with both of these, Jenny is a horse who is the plucky underdog, or under horse as Kate Rusby describes her. I can think of several songs about humans called Jenny (or Jennie), possibly a song about a homing pigeon (but not called Jenny). But so far, I have no recollection of a song specifically about Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Although that might change in the future. Kate does talk about her family quite a lot and at the time of the album's release it is noted in the sleeve notes about her two current 'staffies' Freda and Beebo as well as the late "Doris the Dooge".

From Quiz The Girl who Couldn't Fly

Answer: West wind

The answer here is found at the end of the final verse. "Only the lark and the west wind know I'm in this field where no-one goes" Another song about lost love as indicated by the chorus: "Time it is past and now I roam free. Is it wrong to wish you still need me" This is one of the many songs on the album written by Kate Rusby.

From Quiz A Soggy Ship

Answer: The sun

The song, which is written by Kate Rusby, is a love song. The moon seeing the beautiful sun rising each morning, then passing through the day before setting in the evening. To give an example of the lyrics: "At dawn she is delicate, And burning by noon, The end of the day will come soon." The answer does explicitly appear in the lyrics as well, "For she's the sun, I'm only the moon" appears towards the end of the song.

From Quiz The Philosophers, Poets and Kings of Kate Rusby

Answer: Married to an itinerant tinker

Although I think I have heard versions with all of these happening, in this case although her father rejects her suitor as not being a suitable match. Normally if there is a marriage it is an arranged one to someone far more to the father's liking, but in this telling the daughter ends up being married to someone of a far lower status than the song's narrator. This song is a traditional one arranged by Kate and her husband. Following on about Kate's love of 'staffies', she notes that when she was young, she had a Staffordshire Bull Terrier called Belle who was named after this song.

From Quiz The Girl who Couldn't Fly

Answer: Far away from here

The relevant lyric here is: "Take my hand my dear. Love takes us far away from here.", which occurs at the start of the third verse. To me, the lyrics read that this is a song of a relationship breaking down. In evidence I offer the second verse: "Take my hand, my dear We were drifting year after year When we tried our best to fly, my dear Let me go now, let me go How it came to this it's not clear Long and lonely nights now I fear" But the phrase "Take my hand my dear. Love takes us far away from here", also puts me in mind of the Oysterband song "We Could Leave Right Now" with its lyrics: "We could leave right now any step could be the first Any word could be the last any door would do We can forget our names forget each other's faces"

From Quiz A Soggy Ship

Answer: Centaur

The story starts with a knight seeking the witch of the title. Eventually he comes to a pool of water. "And wet rose she from the lake, and fast and flee went she, And half the form of a maiden fair, with a jet-black mare's body" It doesn't say she looked like a centaur, but the body of a horse with the top half of a human can only match one of the options given. The song was written by Archie Fisher and the original has a lot of Scottish or Cumbrian dialect. Some subsequent recordings, notably that of Stan Rogers, modernise the language in some places. This updating of the language is the case with the recording on this album as well.

From Quiz The Girl who Couldn't Fly

Answer: Lament her

The lyrics of "Mary Blaize" are taken from the words of a poem by Oliver Goldsmith. The song, opens with the lines; "Good people all with one accord. Lament for Mary Blaize", as indeed does the poem. The poem goes by the title "An Elegy on The Glory of Her Sex, Mrs. Mary Blaize", and describes a popular woman. "The needy seldom passed her door And always found her kind She freely lent to all the poor Who left a pledge behind" But this lady wasn't totally faultless, as the song also admits. "She never followed wicked ways. Unless when she was sinning" and likewise at Church "She never slumbered in her pew. But when she closed her eyes". Note the words "unless" and "but" in these lines.

From Quiz A Soggy Ship

Answer: Yorkshire Tea

Big Brave Bill from Barnsley, well it has to be Yorkshire tea. As the chorus goes: "Big Brave Bill, from Barnsley he came Big Brave Bill, from the mine Big Brave Bill, we'll remember his name The hero who drinks Yorkshire Tea all the time" The song details some of the people he has saved from disaster. For instance, when Mrs Dobbins took a holiday to Majorca and had a distressing experience. "Was served a cup of warm water, tea bag on the side UHT milk, oh she broke down and cried But here's Bill, Bill he's with kettle and proud" Like Big Brave Bill, Kate Rusby, comes from Barnsley. She isn't big though. Maybe Bill is her alter ego.

From Quiz The Girl who Couldn't Fly

Answer: Death

The answer is found at the end of the second verse. "And if he do take another mate, Before the holy shrine, Another ne'er shall have my heart, Death will be a friend of mine." Although the lyrics are listed as traditional, I have tracked them down to a poem by John Bolton Rogerson, published in 1842 with the name "A Ballad" in "Voice from the Town and other Poems". "A Ballad" is not exactly an imaginative title for a song, but it does reflect the title of the poem.

From Quiz A Soggy Ship

Answer: Thirty sheep

As the song opening lines have it: "O young Janie, fair by feature She would never a bargain miss Thirty sheep for just one kiss" But she rather enjoys it with the fellow, for a little later prepared to offer thirty kisses for just one sheep. By the end she is willing to surrender thirty sheep for just one kiss. Ardent maybe, possibly a little over eager. The refrain does say: "Oh Janie, sweet Janie Please be patient and don't be keen" But Janie doesn't seem to able to follow that advice.

From Quiz A Soggy Ship

Answer: Ancient

This song is one of Kate Rusby's own compositions. It was inspired by the migration crisis across the Mediterranean in the 2010s. Many desperate people took to boats not fit for the purpose to cross into Europe. The lyric providing the answer is: "An ancient land I've left behind, in ruins now lies she". The song itself is about a woman and child making the journey across in a boat, the "paper boat" of the title. The song ends with the woman wondering if they will make it to the other side. "The orange sun was burning on the boat where we all stand And hope it blowed eternal there upon the promised land Will it whither now or will I feel my feet upon the sand?" Another song drawing its inspiration from the same humanitarian crisis is Cara Dillon's song "Lakeside Swans" on the album "Wanderer".

From Quiz The Philosophers, Poets and Kings of Kate Rusby

Answer: Mining

The Huskar Pit disaster of 1838 resulted in the deaths of 26 children. One of the results of this was the Mines Act of 1842 prohibiting children under ten working underground in mines. The words and music of this song are by Kate Rusby and it is written from the perspective of a mother of one of the children killed in the tragedy. The phrase "halt the wagons" is a reference to stopping the wagons taking the children to the grave so a mother can look once more at her dead child.

From Quiz The Girl who Couldn't Fly

Answer: Horn

The only musical instrument mentioned in this song is the horn. "The Elfin Knight stands on yon hill. He blows his horn both loud and shrill." The origins of this song lie in the distant past. The collection known as the Child Ballads lists 12 versions. The words used here seem to be taken from these but with a different verse structure and plot. In the more usual versions, it is a riddle song, of impossible challenges between an Elven Prince and the woman he intends to abduct, seduce or marry, depending on the lyrics. The song "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" is also a variation from the same source. I have noted elsewhere that riddling contests appear to have been popular in the older songs. Bellowhead's "Captain Wedderburn", the Albion Dance Band recording, "Y'Acre of Land" and Steeleye Spans track entitled "Now We Are Six", all feature riddles. Then there is another song by Steeleye Span, "Elf Call", which features the call of an elf instead of a horn blowing elf, although that song appears unrelated to the one here.

From Quiz A Soggy Ship

Answer: Nature

A song that describes living wild and free. No ties, possessions or responsibilities. The opening verse describes this: "I was not born a queen or king, I have no house nor anything. In comfort, none can equal me, and what they all would die to be." The rest of the lyrics follow this theme, including the answer to the question: "While evil games the greedy play. It's only nature I obey" It puts me in mind of the Richard Thompson song "Beeswing" which describes a similarly flighty person.

From Quiz The Girl who Couldn't Fly

Answer: Argyll

This ballad starts with the following verse: "It fell on a day, a bonnie bonnie day, When the corn grew green and yellow, That there fell out a great dispute Between Argyll and Airlie." Then it goes on to describe the attack by the Argyll forces on the house of the Airlie family. According to the song, the lady of the house sees the attackers heading towards the house. Being a border ballad the song then carries on the tale, in this case it is for a short seven verses; other versions are longer. The attack by the Argylls on the castle of the Airlies is documented, occurring in 1640, but the rest of the details in the song are fanciful. There are records of the Scottish "Convention of the Estates", a sort of parliament, authorising the Earl of Argyll to seek retribution on the Earl of Airlie for siding with King Charles of England. The term used to describe this is a "commission of fire and sword", or kill the living and burn the property without having to worry about any consequences.

From Quiz The Philosophers, Poets and Kings of Kate Rusby

Answer: The wide world over

According to the notes with the album, this song was inspired by the walking of a gentleman with Alzheimer's, whose remaining pleasures include walking around his local village. Being a small village people know him and look out for him. The song's refrain and the last line of each verse is "I'll walk the wide world over". The wrong answers refer to a nursery rhyme (round and round the garden), the writings of J R R Tolkien ("There and back again" being the subtitle of "The Hobbit") and a song and album by Show of Hands ("The Long Way Home").

From Quiz The Girl who Couldn't Fly

Answer: Winter

The first lines of this song are, "Winter comes around, and he knows he is homeward bound". The song can be seen in as similar to the parable of the prodigal son, or any example of a lost friend or loved one returning. But within the song it does specify friendship, "He's found where he belongs, He know he's been here all along, He is smiling as he joins his friends in song." Two songs with a similar theme in my view are the Ralph McTell song "Weather the Storm" and "Suntrap" by Show of Hands. The former is about a friend having gone through a difficult relationship whilst the latter is about an emigrant recognising the call of home.

From Quiz The Philosophers, Poets and Kings of Kate Rusby

Answer: Lark

The relevant line of the chorus is "And the lark is my daily alarmer". The message of the song is the farmer content as he can provide for all of his needs, and that without the farmer the rest of us would surely starve. Another traditional song arranged by Kate and her husband.

From Quiz The Philosophers, Poets and Kings of Kate Rusby

Answer: Stars

Writing this quiz as I am in a Corvid-19 lockdown, an upbeat song like this is a nice way to end. The song is written by Kate Rusby and the relevant phrase, repeated at points in the song is "Tonight the stars are yours and mine".

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