Scarborough Fair

One of the most popular so-called "folk songs" today is "Scarborough Fair". At the moment around 1000 recorded versions are available. At least I found as much at amazon . It belongs to a family of songs that is more than 300 years old. Francis J. Child has subsumed this group in his English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882) under No. 2, "The Elfin Knight" (Vol. 1, pp. 6-20 ). Mostly responsible for the resurgence of "Scarborough Fair" was English folk singer and guitar player Martin Carthy who recorded his arrangement of this song in 1965 for his first LP (Fontana STL 5269 ): Are you going to Scarborough Fair, Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, Remember me to one who lives there, For once she was a true love of mine . Tell her to make me a cambric shirt, Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, Without no seam or fine needlework, For once she was a true love of mine. Tell her to find me an acre of land, Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, Between the salt water and the sea strand, And then she'll be a true love of mine. Tell her to plough it with a lamb's horn, Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, And to sow it all o'er with one peppercorn, And then she'll be a true love of mine. Paul Simon liked Carthy's version and recorded it himself in 1966 with his partner Art Garfunkel for their third LP, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme . Their recording was also used in the movie The Graduate and included on the Soundtrack-LP. Since then this song was recorded countless times by all kinds of artists. One may say that it has never been more popular than today. Carthy's version was also important for another reason. Already in the winter 1962/63 Bob Dylan heard him play this song in London Folk clubs and it became a kind of inspiration for his own "Girl From The North Country" (see also my article about this song: "...She Once Was A True Love Of Mine" - Some Notes About Bob Dylan's "Girl From The North Country" ). Martin Carthy himself had learned the song most likely from The Singing Island (1960, p. 26), an influential songbook compiled by Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl. He only edited the tune and the text a little bit and dropped three of the eight verses. MacColl's recording of his version appeared in 1957 on the LP Matching Songs For The British Isles And America (Riverside RLP 12-637 , also available at YouTube ). According to the notes in The Singing Island he had collected this particular variant in 1947 from "Mark Anderson, retired lead.miner of Middleton-in-Teasdale, Yorkshire" (p. 109). Here are the original text and tune as sung by Ewan MacColl. Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, Remember me to one that lives there, For once she was a true love of mine. Tell her to wash it in yonder dry well, Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, Where water ne'er sprung, nor drop of rain fell, And then she'll be a rue love of mine. Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn, Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, Which never bore blossom since Adam was born, And then she'll be a true love of mine. And when you have done and finished your work, Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, Then come to me for your cambric shirt, And you shall be a true love of mine. The following text is an attempt at unraveling the history of this song family. Carthy's and MacColl's versions will serve as a kind of focal point. But the story starts in the second half of the 17th century, presumably in Scotland. Songs and stories about this kind of wit contest were well known all over Europe. Child in his text about the "Elfin Knight" refers to numerous example. But it is not clear if there was a direct relationship to the British ballad or if this type of song was imported from the continent or from Scandinavia. There were two sisters they went playing, With a hie downe, downe, a downe-a, To see their fathers ships come sayling in With a hy downe, downe, a downe-o. No reprints or other published variants of "Elfin Knight" from that t