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The melody was used throughout director [[Fritz Lang]]'s 1941 film ''[[Man Hunt (1941 film)|Man Hunt]]'' starring [[Walter Pidgeon]], [[Joan Bennett]] and [[George Sanders]].
The melody was used throughout director [[Fritz Lang]]'s 1941 film ''[[Man Hunt (1941 film)|Man Hunt]]'' starring [[Walter Pidgeon]], [[Joan Bennett]] and [[George Sanders]].


An early, possibly the earliest, commercial recording was by actor/singers [[Gordon Heath]] and [[Lee Payant]], Americans who ran a cafe and nightclub, L'Abbaye, on the [[Rive Gauche]] in [[Paris]]. They recorded the song on the [[Elektra Records|Elektra]] album ''Encores From The Abbaye'' in 1955.<ref>[http://www.wirz.de/music/heathfrm.htm Gordon Heath and Lee Payant discography]</ref><ref name=originals>[http://www.originalsproject.us/ Scarborough Fair at The Originals Project]</ref>
The earliest commercial recording of the ballad was by actor/singers [[Gordon Heath]] and [[Lee Payant]], Americans who ran a cafe and nightclub, L'Abbaye, on the [[Rive Gauche]] in [[Paris]]. They recorded the song on the [[Elektra Records|Elektra]] album ''Encores From The Abbaye'' in 1955.<ref>[http://www.wirz.de/music/heathfrm.htm Gordon Heath and Lee Payant discography]</ref><ref name=originals>[http://www.originalsproject.us/ Scarborough Fair at The Originals Project]</ref> Their version used the melody from [[Frank Kidson]]'s ''Collection Of Traditional Tunes'', published in 1891, which reported it as being "as sung in [[Whitby]] streets twenty or thirty years ago" - that is, in about the 1860s.<ref name=rypens>[http://www.originals.be/en/originals.php?id=5353 Arnold Rypens, The Originals:Scarborough Fair]</ref>

The song was also included on [[A. L. Lloyd]]'s 1955 album ''The English And Scottish Popular Ballads'', using Kidson's melody, but the version using the melody later developed by [[Simon & Garfunkel]] in "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" was first recorded on a 1956 album, ''English Folk Songs'', by Audrey Coppard.<ref name=rypens/><ref>[http://www.folkways.si.edu/TrackDetails.aspx?itemid=16548 Smithsonian Folkways: Audrey Coppard, ''English Folk Songs'']</ref> It was included by [[Ewan MacColl]] and [[Peggy Seeger]] on ''The Singing Island'', and then by [[Shirley Collins]] in 1959 on the album ''False True Lovers''.<ref name=originals/><ref name=rypens/> It is likely that both Coppard and Collins learned it from MacColl, who claimed to have collected it "in part" from a Scottish miner. However, according to [[Alan Lomax]], MacColl's source was probably [[Cecil Sharp]]'s ''One Hundred English Folk Songs'', published in 1916.<ref>[http://hummingadifferenttune.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html ''...Humming A Diff'rent Tune'', 15 September 2009]</ref><ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/onehundredengli00shargoog#page/n227/mode/1up Cecil Sharp, ''One Hundred English Folk Songs'']</ref>


=== Simon & Garfunkel ===
=== Simon & Garfunkel ===
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}}
}}


The arrangement made famous by [[Simon & Garfunkel]]'s "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" originated in the mid-20th century. [[Paul Simon]] learned it in 1965 in London from [[Martin Carthy]], who had picked up the tune from a songbook by [[Ewan MacColl]] and [[Peggy Seeger]], ''The Singing Island''.<ref name=originals/> Then [[Art Garfunkel]] set it in [[counterpoint]] with "Canticle", a reworking of Simon's 1963 song "The Side of a Hill" with new, [[anti-war]] lyrics. It was the lead track of the 1966 [[album]] ''[[Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme]]'', and was released as a [[single (music)|single]] after being featured on [[The Graduate (soundtrack)|the soundtrack]] to ''[[The Graduate]]'' in 1968. The [[copyright]] credited only Simon and Garfunkel as the authors, causing ill-feeling on the part of Carthy, who felt the "traditional" source should have been [[Credit (creative arts)|credited]]. This rift remained until Simon invited Carthy to duet the song with him at a London concert in 2000.<ref name=originals/>
[[Paul Simon]] learned it in 1965 in London from [[Martin Carthy]], who had picked up the tune from the songbook by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. Then [[Art Garfunkel]] set it in [[counterpoint]] with "Canticle", a reworking of Simon's 1963 song "The Side of a Hill" with new, [[anti-war]] lyrics. It was the lead track of the 1966 [[album]] ''[[Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme]]'', and was released as a [[single (music)|single]] after being featured on [[The Graduate (soundtrack)|the soundtrack]] to ''[[The Graduate]]'' in 1968. The [[copyright]] credited only Simon and Garfunkel as the authors, causing ill-feeling on the part of Carthy, who felt the "traditional" source should have been [[Credit (creative arts)|credited]]. This rift remained until Simon invited Carthy to duet the song with him at a London concert in 2000.<ref name=originals/>


Prior to Simon's learning the song, [[Bob Dylan]] had borrowed the melody and several lines from Carthy's arrangement in creating his song, "[[Girl from the North Country]]", which appeared on ''[[The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan]]'' (1963), ''[[Nashville Skyline]]'' (1969) (together with [[Johnny Cash]]), ''[[Real Live]]'' (1984) and ''[[The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration]]'' (1993).
Prior to Simon's learning the song, [[Bob Dylan]] had borrowed the melody and several lines from Carthy's arrangement in creating his song, "[[Girl from the North Country]]", which appeared on ''[[The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan]]'' (1963), ''[[Nashville Skyline]]'' (1969) (together with [[Johnny Cash]]), ''[[Real Live]]'' (1984) and ''[[The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration]]'' (1993).

Revision as of 19:34, 18 January 2011

Not to be confused with Scarboro Fair.
For the Renaissance fair theme park, see Scarborough Renaissance Festival.

"Scarborough Fair" was a traditional English fair, and is a traditional English ballad.

The Fair

During the late Middle Ages the seaside town of Scarborough was an important venue for tradesmen from all over England. It was host to a huge 45-day trading event, starting August 15, which was exceptionally long for a fair in those times. Merchants came to it from all areas of England, Norway, Denmark, the Baltic states and the Byzantine Empire. Scarborough Fair originated from a charter granted by King Henry III of England on 22 January 1253. The charter, which gave Scarborough many privileges, stated "The Burgesses and their heirs forever may have a yearly fair in the Borough, to continue from the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary until the Feast of St Michael next following". (On the modern Roman Catholic calendar, the equivalent dates are August 15 to September 29.) Naturally, such a large occasion attracted a lot more than just tradesmen; they needed to be entertained and fed, therefore large crowds of buyers, sellers and pleasure-seekers attended the fair. Prices were determined by ‘Supply and demand’, with goods often being exchanged through the barter system. Records show that from 1383 Scarborough's prosperity slumped.

In the early 17th century competition from other towns' markets and fairs and increasing taxation saw further collapse of the Fair until it eventually became financially untenable. The market was revived again in the 18th century, but due to intense competition Scarborough Fair finally ended in 1788.

The traditional "Scarborough Fair" no longer exists but a number of low-key celebrations take place every September to mark the original event. Scarborough Fair in July 2006 witnessed Medieval Jousting Competitions, hosted by English Heritage in addition to the usual attractions.

The Ballad

The song tells the tale of a young man, who tells the listener to ask his former lover to perform for him a series of impossible tasks, such as making him a shirt without a seam and then washing it in a dry well, adding that if she completes these tasks he will take her back. Often the song is sung as a duet, with the woman then giving her lover a series of equally impossible tasks, promising to give him his seamless shirt once he has finished.

As the versions of the ballad known under the title "Scarborough Fair" are usually limited to the exchange of these impossible tasks, many suggestions concerning the plot have been proposed, including the hypothesis that it is a song about the Plague. The lyrics of "Scarborough Fair" appear to have something in common from an obscure Scottish ballad, The Elfin Knight (Child Ballad #2),[1] which has been traced at least as far back as 1670 and may well be earlier. 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").

The melody is very typical of the middle English period.

As the song spread, it was adapted, modified, and rewritten to the point that dozens of versions existed by the end of the 18th century, although only a few are typically sung nowadays. The references to "Scarborough Fair" and the refrain "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" date to 19th century versions, and the refrain may have been borrowed from the ballad Riddles Wisely Expounded, (Child Ballad #1), which has a similar plot.

Lyrics

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to one who lives there,
She once was a true love of mine.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without no seam nor needle work,
Then she'll be 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,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And to gather it all in a bunch of heather,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Are you going to Scarborough fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to one who lives there,
She once was a true love of mine.

Meaning of the refrain

Much thought has gone into attempts to explain the refrain "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme", although, as this is found only in relatively recent versions, there may not be much to explain. The oldest versions of "The Elfin Knight" (circa 1650) contain the refrain "my plaid away, my plaid away, the wind shall not blow my plaid away" (or variations thereof), which may reflect the original emphasis on the lady's chastity. Slightly younger versions often contain one of a group of related refrains:

  • Sober and grave grows merry in time
  • Every rose grows merry with time
  • There's never a rose grows fairer with time

These are usually paired with "Once she was a true love of mine" or some variant. "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" may simply be an alternate rhyming refrain to the original. Folksong scholar Märta Ramsten states that folksong refrains containing enumerations of herbs — spices and medical herbs — occur in many languages, including Swedish, Danish, German, and English (and also in the "regional language" of Lombardy, Italy: "ravanei, remulass, barbabietul e spinass" i.e. "radish, horseradish, beet and spinach").

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme may also refer to the pagan belief that together these four herbs can be a love charm. One version of the ballad has a fair young knight, Remmie, who has been given a potion of the four herbs by a lady named Scarlett; parsley for lust, sage for wisdom, rosemary for remembrance and thyme to make her irresistible to him. In this version the couple are trying to meet at Scarborough Fair, but adverse circumstances continue to get in their way. But their perseverance, determination and deep love win out in the end and they do find each other. [citation needed]

The song is also believed[2] to reference the black plague. With parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme being four herbs used to ward off the smell of the dead or dying. It was popular belief in Medieval times that the smell of the plague(s) was responsible for infecting somebody and that herbs could be used to cleanse air. Sage, rosemary, and thyme are also common ingredients used in Four Thieves Vinegar, said to protect a group of thieves from the plague.

Commercial versions

1940s and 1950s

The melody was used throughout director Fritz Lang's 1941 film Man Hunt starring Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett and George Sanders.

The earliest commercial recording of the ballad was by actor/singers Gordon Heath and Lee Payant, Americans who ran a cafe and nightclub, L'Abbaye, on the Rive Gauche in Paris. They recorded the song on the Elektra album Encores From The Abbaye in 1955.[3][4] Their version used the melody from Frank Kidson's Collection Of Traditional Tunes, published in 1891, which reported it as being "as sung in Whitby streets twenty or thirty years ago" - that is, in about the 1860s.[5]

The song was also included on A. L. Lloyd's 1955 album The English And Scottish Popular Ballads, using Kidson's melody, but the version using the melody later developed by Simon & Garfunkel in "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" was first recorded on a 1956 album, English Folk Songs, by Audrey Coppard.[5][6] It was included by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger on The Singing Island, and then by Shirley Collins in 1959 on the album False True Lovers.[4][5] It is likely that both Coppard and Collins learned it from MacColl, who claimed to have collected it "in part" from a Scottish miner. However, according to Alan Lomax, MacColl's source was probably Cecil Sharp's One Hundred English Folk Songs, published in 1916.[7][8]

Simon & Garfunkel

"Scarborough Fair"
Song

Paul Simon learned it in 1965 in London from Martin Carthy, who had picked up the tune from the songbook by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. Then Art Garfunkel set it in counterpoint with "Canticle", a reworking of Simon's 1963 song "The Side of a Hill" with new, anti-war lyrics. It was the lead track of the 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, and was released as a single after being featured on the soundtrack to The Graduate in 1968. The copyright credited only Simon and Garfunkel as the authors, causing ill-feeling on the part of Carthy, who felt the "traditional" source should have been credited. This rift remained until Simon invited Carthy to duet the song with him at a London concert in 2000.[4]

Prior to Simon's learning the song, Bob Dylan had borrowed the melody and several lines from Carthy's arrangement in creating his song, "Girl from the North Country", which appeared on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963), Nashville Skyline (1969) (together with Johnny Cash), Real Live (1984) and The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration (1993).

Justin Hayward

Moody Blues singer Justin Hayward kept true to the lyrics of the song, in his 1989 album Classic Blue. He recorded this with Mike Batt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sarah Brightman

"Scarborough Fair"
Song

Sarah Brightman's version of "Scarborough Fair" appears on her 2000 album La Luna. Her version was also released as a promo only single from the album. Though she omits most of the lyrics that are given above, the lyrics that do still remain in her shorter version of the song are reproduced accurately above within the longer version.

Other artists

Other artists who have performed the song include but are not limited to: the Chopsticks from Hong Kong in the early 1970s, Glen Campbell, Cordelia's Dad, Focus, Delfonics, Vicky Leandros (who also recorded a French, German and Greek version), The Parvarim (who recorded it in Hebrew), Sandie Shaw, Brian the Folksinger (on his self-produced album Folksinger), Hannah Fury, Gregorian, Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66, Wes Montgomery, Al Di Meola, Herbie Hancock, Nana Mouskouri, Queensrÿche, Martin Carthy, Marianne Faithfull, Harry Belafonte, Roger Whittaker, Frank Underwood, Midori, Medwyn Goodall, The Mighty Boosh, Johnny Dean, Pentangle on their album One More Road, Urban Trad, the Mediaeval Baebes, Triniti, Hayley Westenra (with & without Celtic Woman), One More Grain, Bert Jansch, K.I.A., Luar na Lubre, Steve Von Till (under his Harvestman moniker), Mägo de Oz (whose Spanish version carries the title "Duerme... (canción de cuna)"), Aya Matsuura, Chihiro Yonekura, the King's Singers (on their Original Debut Album), the Italian singer and composer Angelo Branduardi and, most recently, a young Japanese artist named Yuki Otake (whose version starts each stanza with the English lyrics, most of which are listed above, and then finishes with a Japanese translation).

Johnny Cash performed, with Bob Dylan, "Girl from the North Country" on the album Nashville Skyline.

Bryn Terfel released an album in 2008 entitled "Scarborough Fair - Songs from the British Isles", which featured the song performed as a duet with Kate Royal.

Roy Castle, better known as presenter of the popular children's BBC TV show, "Record Breakers", released a version of the song in 1967 on Columbia (DB 8155). Arranged by Victor Graham, it includes electric harpsichord (played by Gordon Beck), French horn, and jazzy flute (by Ray Swinfield) - all propelled by driving electric bass (possibly by Eric Ford).

Lesley Garrett performed a traditional version of the song, with male background vocals on her 2002 album The Singer.

In 2005, the Austrian early music ensemble Quadriga Consort released a Renaissance consort song style version.

Celtic Woman member Hayley Westenra performed this song in Celtic Woman: A New Journey in 2007. Also in 2007, the bass Joel Frederiksen, with the Ensemble Phoenix Munich, recorded this song and its variant Whittingham Faire on their album The Elfin Knight.

In 2008, Simon Rylander produced a multi-track album that featured an eight-part barbershop music-style arrangement of this song. His many barbershop [tags] are featured on YouTube under the name FineyLeee.

The Philadelphia folk band Broadside Electric recorded a version, "The Six Questions", on their 1992 album Black-edged Visiting Card, derived from original research into the song's source material. This version features both male and female vocals singing the impossible tasks as a conversation between the star-crossed lovers, and a closing fugue based on the refrain "Sing ivy leaf, sweet william and thyme".

Roy Harper recorded a version called "North Country" on his album, Valentine, which he credited as Traditional-arr by Harper.

Two interpretations of Scarborough Fair: "Scarborough Street Fair" and "Michael's Scarborough Fair" (an instrumental), appear on the soundtrack to the adult animated film Heavy Traffic, along with the Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 version.

It also seems to have heavily inspired the Stone Roses song "Elizabeth My Dear", whose melody is very similar.

In British comedy series "The Mighty Boosh" the character Vince Noir is reminded of a time when he and a friend, Leroy, sang this song while in make-up similar to the Band KISS. The song was not a success and this is attributed to the fact that no one will ever be ready for the 'glam rock/folk' combination.

The song was used as an ending song of episode 8 of the Japanese anime, Gunslinger Girl ~ Il Teatrino, sung by Aoi Tada.

The song was also recorded by the Dutch band Brainbox. Sea Level, the Allman Brothers Band offshoot formed by Chuck Leavell, Jai Johanny Johanson, Lamar Williams and Jimmy Nalls recorded an instrumental version on their 1977 debut album. It was also recorded by British singer Amy Nuttall from her debut album Best Days. Carly Simon included the tune on her 2007 album Into White. German techno group Scooter also covered the song, as Scarborough Affair in 2007, on their album The Ultimate Aural Orgasm. They also released a new version of the song called Scarborough Reloaded on the Ti Sento single in 2009.

The Chopsticks (Sandra and Amina), a Hong Kong duo from the late 1960s and early 1970s, released the song on their album, All Of A Sudden. Their rendition incorporates Arabic musical elements and rhythm.

Robin and Barry Dransfield recorded a version of the song, to another tune, on their album The Rout of the Blues (1970).[9]

Hannah Fury has recorded her own version, a 'soul-shredded' version called Scars. It features lyrics that are twisted in some way.

Electronica artists The KGBs have done a version called "Infinity", featured on the Hardstyle Techno compilation Italian Hardstyle 9 by DJ TechnoBoy. It features a typical Hardstyle beat with a crossfade of the first two verses looped over and over.

Recently, the Dutch Pagan NeoCeltic Folkband Omnia published a somewhat darker version of the song on their newest album — Alive! (2007), titled "The Elven Lover".

In 2008, sticking to traditional lyrics and a medieval style, the band Anglo Saxon released it on their 'Lest we Forget 7/7' single. It also features on their album 'Endangered Species'.

The Norwegian/German band Leaves' Eyes included a cover of the song on their 2009 album Njord as well as an acoustic version on the EP/single My Destiny.

The English doom metal band My Dying Bride placed the song on their 2009 EP Bring Me Victory, with partially rewritten lyrics.

An instrumental version of the song was remixed in Quake Holdings' EXIT TRANCE PRESENTS 全米No.1 シネマCOVERS 2 (Exit Trance Presents All-American No. 1 Cinema Covers 2) by artist Ryu*, as simply Scarborough Fair (スカボローフェア, Sukaborō Fea).

Spanish actress Inma Cuesta tries a "capella" version of the song in the Spanish 17th-century-based show "Águila Roja",[10] in its 14th episode (1st of the second season): [11]

Scarborough Fair
Soprano solo of a few verses.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

The folk music collaboration The Imagined Village, which includes Martin Carthy in its lineup, recorded a version of the song on their 2010 album, Empire & Love.

In the video game Bayonetta by Platinum Games, the eponymous character uses four pistols called Scarborough Fair, which are individually named Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme.

The plot of Nancy Werlin's 2008 fiction book Impossible heavily revolves around the history and mythology of the song.

The song is also popular with Loyalist marching bands in Northern Ireland.

Dogfish Head beer "Saison du BUFF" is a Saison brewed with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. [12]

References

  1. ^ Child, Francis James (1894). The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Part 9. Vol. 9. Boston / Cambridge: Houghton, Mifflin and Company / The Riverside Press. p. 206.
  2. ^ http://classlink.lcusd.net/classlink/getfile.php?fileid=3656
  3. ^ Gordon Heath and Lee Payant discography
  4. ^ a b c Scarborough Fair at The Originals Project
  5. ^ a b c Arnold Rypens, The Originals:Scarborough Fair
  6. ^ Smithsonian Folkways: Audrey Coppard, English Folk Songs
  7. ^ ...Humming A Diff'rent Tune, 15 September 2009
  8. ^ Cecil Sharp, One Hundred English Folk Songs
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81guila_roja
  11. ^ http://www.rtve.es/television/20100108/cancion-margarita/310673.shtml
  12. ^ [2]
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