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The Worlds of Gilbert and Sullivan

This is a very old folk song set to an old Traditional English melody¹ 

The song was revived and made famous by Simon and Garfunkel in the 1960s.

Scarborough Fair
(Short Intro)

Where are going; to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to a bonnie lass there
For once she was a true lover of mine.
(short interlude)

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any needle or thread worked in it
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
(short interlude)

Tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Where water ne'er sprung, nor a drop of rain fell,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
(short interlude)

Tell her to plough me an acre of land,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Between the sea and the salt sea strand,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
(short interlude)

Tell her to plough it with one ram's horn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And sow it all over with one peppercorn,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
(short interlude)

Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And tie it all up with a tom-tit's feather
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
(short interlude)

Tell her to gather it all in a sack,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And carry it home on a butterfly's back
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.

Super isn't it?

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Footnote 1    The song indicates a young man, telling 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 "Scarborough Fair" are usually limited to the exchange of these impossible tasks, many suggestions have been proposed, including that it is a song about the Plague. In fact, "Scarborough Fair" appears to derive from an older obscure Scottish ballad, The Elfin Knight, which has been traced at least as far back as 1670 and possibly 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").

As the song developed, it was modified, and dozens of versions existed by the end of the 18th century, although only a few are sung now. The references to "Scarborough Fair" and the refrain "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" date to nineteenth century versions, and the refrain may have been borrowed from the ballad Riddles Wisely Expounded, which has a similar plot.

Much thought has gone into attempts to explain the refrain "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme", although, as found in recent versions. 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. More recent versions often contain one of a group of related refrains:

1. Sober and grave grows merry in time
2. Every rose grows merry with time
3. 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. Return to story.

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