Scarborough Fair (ballad)

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." Slightly more recent 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"
• "Yesterday holds memories in time" (written by Joseph Vargo for the 2012 album Winter's Majesty by Nox Arcana)[7] [8]

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."

Authentic recordings of the ballad include the following examples:

• Georgia Ann Griffin of Newberry, Alachua, Florida. Recorded by John Lomax in 1939.[9]
• Allie Long Parker of Hogscald Hollow, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Recorded by Mary Parler on 7 April 1958.[10]
• Sara Cleveland of Brant Lake, New York. Recorded by Sandy Paton in 1966.[11]
• Elizabeth "Liz" Jefferies. Recorded in Bristol by Barry and Chris Morgan in 1976.[12]

The earliest commercial recording of the ballad was made by actor/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.[13] 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.[14]

The version using the melody later used by Simon & Garfunkel in "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" was first sung by Mark Anderson (1874–1953), a retired lead miner from Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, England to Ewan MacColl in 1947.[15][16][17] MacColl recorded the lyrics and melody in a book of Teesdale folk songs, and later included it on his and Peggy Seeger's The Singing Island (1960).[16] An audio recording of Anderson's version was never made, although Alan Lomax recorded Anderson singing other songs in 1951.[18]

The first recorded version using the best-known melody was performed by Audrey Coppard on the 1956 album English Folk Songs.[19] 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[20] and an a capella rendition another decade later on The Long Harvest (1967).[21]

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.[22]

Marianne Faithfull recorded the song for her album North Country Maid, released in April 1966.[23]

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").

Celtic Woman recorded a version of the song for their third album A New Journey, released in January 2007.[24]

Nox Arcana recorded a ghost-story version with all original lyrics by Joseph Vargo for the 2012 album Winter's Majesty.[7][8]

Instrumental versions of Scarborough Fair were arranged by Geoff Knorr for use in the video game Civilization VI as the main theme of the English civilization.[25][26] 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.[27][28]

"Scarborough Fair/Canticle"
Side-A label of the 1968 US vinyl single
Single by Simon & Garfunkel
from the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
B-side	"April Come She Will"
Released	February 1968 (1968-02) (single) 10 October 1966 (1966-10-10) (album)
Recorded	26 July 1966
Length	3:10 (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album track and single edit) 6:22 (The Graduate soundtrack)
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	"Scarborough Fair": Traditional "Canticle": Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel
Producer(s)	Bob Johnston
Simon & Garfunkel singles chronology
"Fakin' It" (1967) "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (1968) "Mrs. Robinson" (1968)
Music video
"Scarborough Fair / Canticle" (audio) on YouTube

In London in 1965, Paul Simon learned the song from Martin Carthy,[29][30] who had picked up the song from the songbook by MacColl and Seeger[31] and included it on his eponymous 1965 album. Simon & Garfunkel set it in counterpoint with "Canticle", a reworking of the lyrics from Simon's 1963 anti-war song "The Side of a Hill",[32] set to a new melody composed mainly by Art Garfunkel.[31][33] "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.[31] The copyright credited only Simon and Garfunkel as the authors, which upset Carthy, who felt that the "traditional" source should have been credited.[31] The rift persisted until Simon invited Carthy to perform the song with him as a duet in a concert at London's Hammersmith Apollo in October 2000.[31][34] Simon performed the song with the Muppets when he guest-starred on The Muppet Show.

Before Simon learned the song, Bob Dylan had borrowed the melody and several lines from Carthy's arrangement to create his song "Girl from the North Country",[35] 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).