Scarborough Fair (ballad)

The lyrics of "Scarborough Fair" appear to have something in common with a Scottish ballad titled "The Elfin Knight", which has been traced as far back as 1670. In this ballad, an elf threatens to abduct a young woman to be his lover unless she can perform an impossible task ("For thou must shape a sark to me / Without any cut or heme, quoth he"); she responds with a list of tasks that he must first perform ("I have an aiker of good ley-land / Which lyeth low by yon sea-strand"). Dozens of versions existed by the end of the 18th century. A number of older versions refer to locations other than Scarborough Fair, including Wittingham Fair, Cape Ann, "twixt Berwik and Lyne", etc. Many versions do not mention a place name and are often generically titled ("The Lovers' Tasks", "My Father Gave Me an Acre of Land", etc.). The references to the traditional English gathering "Scarborough Fair", and the refrain "parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme", date to 19th-century versions, and may have been borrowed from the ballad Riddles Wisely Expounded (Child Ballad #1), which has a similar plot. ==Lyrics and melodies==

{{image frame|content= \header { tagline = ##f arranger = \markup { "One Hundred English Folk Songs" } opus = "Cecil J. Sharp (1916, no. 74, p. 167–169)" } global = { \key g \minor \time 6/8 } sopranoVoice = \relative c'' { \global \autoBeamOff \set Staff.midiInstrument = "clarinet" R2. | R | g8\ff a g f g a | bes8. c16 bes8 a4 r8 | g4 a8 bes ([a]) g | g bes c d4 g,8 | d'4 d8 e d c | d g, g f ([g]) a | bes ([c]) bes a a g | \time 3/8 d e fis | g4. \bar "|." } verse = \lyricmode { Where are you go -- ing? To Scar -- bo -- rough Fair? Pars -- ley, sage, rose -- ma -- ry and thyme, re -- mem -- ber me to a bon -- ny lass there, for once she was a true lov -- er of mine. } rightOne = \relative c' { \global \mergeDifferentlyDottedOn d8 (g a bes c d) | d, (c d~) d (e fis) | bes,\pp (d g) a, (d f) | d (f bes) f (a d) | bes (d e) r g (e) | r d (bes) r () | r f (a) e (c' e) | d, (g4) f c'8( | bes4. c) | \time 3/8 d,8 (g a bes4.) \bar "|." } rightTwo = \relative c' { \global d4.~ d | g, g4 c8 | bes4.\pp a | d f | bes r8 bes4 | r8 g4 r8 s4 | r8 a,4 e'4. | d4 c8 f8 (c4) | bes'8 f g a f e | \time 3/8 d4. | bes' \bar "|." } leftOne = \relative c { \global \mergeDifferentlyDottedOn d8 e fis g a bes | g, a bes 4 8 | g\pp (bes g') d, (a' d) | bes4. d8 ( f a) | g (bes d \stemDown e4 d8 | bes4 g8 f4 e8) | \stemUp d4 f8 c (g' c) | r bes e, r c f | s4. f4 g8 | \time 3/8 d e fis | g4. \bar "|." } leftTwo = \relative c { \global d4.~ d | g,4. s4. | g4.\pp d | bes'8 (d bes') d,4. | g4. s4. | s2. | d4. c | bes a | d8 d' bes f a, c | \time 3/8 d4. | g \bar "|." } \score { > \new Staff = "left" { \clef bass > } >> >> \layout { indent = 0 \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" } \context { \Voice \remove "Dynamic_engraver" } } \midi { \tempo 4. = 45 } } \header { tagline = ##f arranger = \markup { "Kidson (1891) p. 43" } } global = { \key g \major \time 3/4 \partial 4 } sopranoVoice = \relative c' { \global \set Staff.midiInstrument = "clarinet" d4 | g g g | a b c | d2 d4 | a2. b4 b b | c (b) a | g g e | d2 d4 | g2 g4 | a b c | d d d | a2 b4 | c2 c4 | c (b) a | d, g g | g2 \bar "|." \bar "|." } verse = \lyricmode { Oh! where are you go -- ing? To Scar -- bro' fair, sa -- vour -- y sage, rose -- ma -- ry and thyme: Re -- mem -- ber me to a lass that lives there, for once she was a true love of mine. } \score { > \layout { indent = 0 \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" } } \midi { \tempo 4. = 90 } } % as used in File:Scarborough Fair.ogg at Commons \header { tagline = ##f arranger = "Version commonly used today" } global = { \key d \dorian \time 3/4 } chordNames = \chordmode { \global \set chordChanges = ##t \set Staff.midiInstrument = "acoustic guitar (nylon)" \transpose c c, { d2.:min\ppp | q | a:min | d:min | a:m | d:min | d4:min g2 | d2.:min | d:min | a:min | d:min | a:min | d:min | a:min7 | a:min7 | d:min \bar "|." } } sopranoVoice = \relative c' { \global \set Staff.midiInstrument = "clarinet" d2 4 | a'8 a4. a4 | e4. f8 e4 | d2. | r4 a' c4 | d2 c4 | a b g | a2 d4 | 2 4 | c2 a4 | a g f | e2. | d2 a'4 | g2 f4 | e d c | d2. \bar "|." } verse = \lyricmode { Are you go -- ing to Scar -- bor -- ough Fair? Pars -- ley, sage, rose -- ma -- ry, and thyme. Re -- mem -- ber me to one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine. } \score { > \layout { indent = 0 \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" } } \midi { \tempo 4. = 90 } } }} The lyrics published by Frank Kidson in 1891 These are usually paired with "Once (s)he was a true love of mine" or some variant. "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" may simply be an alternate rhyming refrain to the original based on a corruption of "grows merry in time" into "rosemary and thyme". ==Recordings==

Field recordings Early audio field recordings of the ballad include the following examples: • Georgia Ann Griffin of Newberry, Alachua, Florida. Recorded by John Lomax in 1939. • Allie Long Parker of Hogscald Hollow, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Recorded by Mary Parler on 7 April 1958. • Sara Cleveland of Brant Lake, New York. Recorded by Sandy Paton in 1966. • Elizabeth "Liz" Jefferies. Recorded in Bristol by Barry and Chris Morgan in 1976. Commercial recordings 1950s The earliest commercial recording of the ballad was made by actors and singers Gordon Heath and Lee Payant, Americans who ran a café and nightclub, L'Abbaye, on the Rive Gauche in Paris. The recording appeared on the 1955 Elektra album Encores from the Abbaye. The song was also included on the 1956 album The English and Scottish Popular Ballads vol IV by A. L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl, using Kidson's melody. The first recorded version using the best-known melody was performed by Audrey Coppard on the 1956 album English Folk Songs. A decade after collecting the song, MacColl released his own version, accompanied by Peggy Seeger on guitar, on the 1957 LP Matching Songs of the British Isles and America and an a capella rendition another decade later on the 10-CD collection The Long Harvest (1967). 1960s The version using the melody later used by Simon & Garfunkel in "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" was sung to Ewan MacColl in 1947 by Mark Anderson (1874–1953), a retired lead miner from Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, England. No audio recording of Anderson's version was ever made, although Alan Lomax recorded Anderson singing other songs in 1951. MacColl printed the lyrics and melody in a book of Teesdale folk songs, and later included it on his and Peggy Seeger's The Singing Island in 1960. David Dicaire, in his 2011 book The Folk Music Revival. Biographies Of Fifty Performers And Other Influential People, called Stekert and Okun's version a "folk classic". In 1965, Martin Carthy sang "Scarborough Fair" on his eponymous debut album after having picked up the tune from the songbook by MacColl and Seeger. Marianne Faithfull recorded the song for her second American studio album Go Away from My World, released in December 1965. "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" appeared as the lead track on the 1966 Simon & Garfunkel album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme in counterpoint with "Canticle", a reworking of the lyrics from Simon's 1963 anti-war song "The Side of a Hill". The duo learned their arrangement of the song from Martin Carthy, but did not credit him as the arranger. They later made a "pretty substantial" monetary settlement with Carthy's publisher when asked, but unbeknownst to them, Carthy himself did not receive anything from it. Sérgio Mendes and Brasil '66 scored a U.S. No. 16 hit (#2 AC) with their light jazz/samba/pop version in 1968, which was used in the 1973 animated film Heavy Traffic. In 1969, Vicky Leandros recorded the song in several versions for release throughout Europe, Canada and Japan, singing in English, German, French ("Chèvrefeuille que tu es loin") and Greek ("Νά Θυμάσαι Πώς Μ' αγαπάς"). Dutch progressive rock band Brainbox recorded a version of the song on their 1969 album Brainbox. The song is the last track featured in Bobbie Gentry's and Glen Campbell's 1968 collaborative album Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell. 1980s American folk punk band Cordelia's Dad recorded a version for their 1989 self-titled debut album. The Stone Roses set their own words to the melody for "Elizabeth My Dear", a track on their eponymous debut album (1989). Philadelphia punk band Tons of Nuns recorded the song on their second demo and performed the song live on WXPN. 1990s Queensrÿche included a version as the B-side of their single "Anybody Listening?" in 1992. It was later included as a bonus track on the 2003 reissue of their album Empire. 2000s Celtic Woman recorded a version of the song for their third album A New Journey, released in January 2007. English early music ensemble Mediæval Bæbes recorded a version entitled "Scarborough Fayre" for their 2005 album Mirabilis. The English death-doom metal band My Dying Bride recorded a version with two additional stanzas by its lead singer Aaron Stainthorpe, which appears on its 2009 EP Bring Me Victory. German/Norwegian symphonic metal band Leaves' Eyes recorded a version of this song on their 2009 album Njord. 2010s Nox Arcana recorded a ghost-story version with all original lyrics by Joseph Vargo for the 2012 album ''Winter's Majesty''. In 2017, Aurora recorded the song for the Brazilian telenovela Deus Salve o Rei along with an opening sequence for it. 2020s In 2025, Oli Steadman included it on his song collection "365 Days Of Folk". In 2026, Dorian Electra included it on their self-titled EP of covers. Simon & Garfunkel version In London in 1965, Paul Simon learned the song from Martin Carthy, who had picked up the song from the songbook by MacColl and Seeger they used the same tune as Carthy had for the traditional lyrics, while Simon's anti-war lyrics were set to a new melody composed mainly by Art Garfunkel. "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" appeared as the lead track on the 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, and was released as a single after it had been featured on the soundtrack to The Graduate in 1968. Simon performed the song with the Muppets when he guest-starred on season 5, episode 11 of The Muppet Show (October 18, 1980). Before Simon learned the song, Bob Dylan had borrowed the melody and several lines of lyrics from Carthy's arrangement to create his song "Girl from the North Country", which is featured on ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963), Nashville Skyline (1969) (with Johnny Cash), Real Live (1984) and The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration'' (1993). Charts Certifications Soundtrack recordings The Simon and Garfunkel version of the song was featured on the soundtrack to The Graduate in 1968. As the themes of each civilization are played as different variations of the same song as the game progresses, four different variations of the song are included in the game's soundtrack, with Phill Boucher assisting Knorr in the arrangement of the Atomic Era version of the song. ==Notes==