Scarborough Fair
By Paisleyfrog on June 28, 2026 8:54 pm
Let's do something with Dr Frog 
From the Bristol Renaissance Fair, circa 2018. I've spent a lot of time at ren faires!
Dr Frog and I still haven't had a ton of time for music lately...painted the kitchen, installed a new ceiling fan, changed my kid's oil, assisted with some medical recovery...(although we finally released our second album!). So we thought it'd be fun to do an arrangement. We have an original trad-styled song in the hopper. Let's just say it's....bawdy 
The initial reaction some might have to this song title is, "Um, Paisley, covers aren't allowed, and this is Simon and Garfunkel." Yes, they recorded a version of it, but Scarborough Fair is a tune with origins in Scotland from the 1600s or so. The song was "collected" in 1947 from a miner in England, and is from the late 1800s or so. That's the version we mainly know today, and that Simon and Garfunkel recorded in 1966 - which was part of the folk resurgence of the 60s. The counterpoint in the S&G version is from another Paul Simon song - that's the "Canticle" in their title.
Scarborough Fair has taken many forms over the years, but there has always been a common central theme: the person telling the story is asking after a former lover, and tells someone to ask them to complete some tasks. If those tasks are completed, they will be lovers again. The thing is, the tasks are all impossible: make a shirt with no seams, and then wash it in a dry well, for example. It's a song about love that cannot be. I've never really looked at the lyrics before, and never realized what a crushingly sad song it is. There are many verses - Dr Frog chose the ones here. S&G made it common to repeat the first verse as the last.
There was a real Scarborough Fair - it was a huge market and festival that ran from 1253 to 1788. It lasted for 45 days, and drew traders and merchants from all over the known world. But what's up with the spice cabinet refrain? It's from medieval lore for what each herb represents:
Parsley is comfort and the removal of bitterness.
Sage is strength and wisdom.
Rosemary is love, remembrance and fidelity
Thyme is courage
The refrain as it exists today was most likely borrowed from another song in the late 1800s. Considering the theme of loss and impossible love, the refrain saying "remembrance, strength, love, and courage...with no bitterness"...makes it even more powerful.
I love Weekly Beats, never would have learned this otherwise
› Lyrics
‹ Lyrics
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to the one that lives there,
For she was once a true love of mine.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any seam or needlework,
And then she'll be a true love of mine.
And tell her to wash it in yonder dry well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Where no water sprung nor a drop of rain fell,
And then she'll be a true love of mine.
And tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Which never bore blossom since the world was born,
And then she'll be a true love of mine.
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to the one that lives there,
For she was once a true love of mine...
For she was once a true love of mine...
For she was once a true love of mine...
› Lots of production notes!
‹ Lots of production notes!
First struggle was finding the key. We had to figure something that was comfortable to sing, was able to find OK on the fretboard (I had chord shapes I liked), and also not be impossible to play on the recorder. The Doctor really likes singing in F, but this song is in the Dorian mode: I am not playing three flats on recorder. Going up two semitones puts us in G Dorian - one flat, very doable. But then my chord shapes had to be capoed on like the 10th fret. No. So, I put new heavier strongs on the guitar and downtuned - the acoustic is tuned to C# The new strings are a bit brighter and buzzier than I like (because C#), but it worked out well all around.
Recording took a bit to get everything together. I ended up recording melody first on soprano recorder so I had something to play around. Looped that, then played guitar under it, then added in other instruments with improvised counterpoint lines. The hulusi from week 23 makes a return - it has a sound that I thought was a little like a medieval shawm. Other instruments are sopranino and tenor recorders. Getting all of them in pitch was a struggle, particularly low notes on the tenor - I've never used pitch correction on wind instruments before, but here we are.
This song is also the debut of my new soprano recorder. I had a recorder I found at a rummage sale in college - made of pear wood, and from West Germany. Amazing instrument I got for a dollar. I played that for decades, and at a lot of gigs...until it died one summer in a hot car after a summer gig. Le sigh.
Anyway, that was seven plus years ago, and I never replaced it. Wood recorders are pricey, especially German ones. It was a brand I had never seen before when shopping, Columbia. Then jwh messaged me and asked if I had any recommendations on recorders. Most of what I play is plastic - they can sound good, but wood has a smoothness to it. On a whim, I looked up Columbia (never had before)....and found an eBay seller with new old stock. Columbia was a cheap German 80s brand, and he had dozens still in the packaging. YES PLEASE. Ended up being $16 shipped, which is AMAZING for a wooden German recorder. You can hear it doubling the melody on the last verse
Vocals were done in one pass: the Doctor continues to be a one-take wonder We had thought about doing it as somewhat of a round, but didn't record it that way - I built a round manually with chosen phrases to repeat for the last verse. I like how mournful it sounds - her voice gives me chills. Used a light touch of Supermassive as a delay on the vocals.
Sorry, no guitars and drums in this...although I could ABSOLUTELY hear that in my head. That's for another remix
The Doctor wanted me to point out that her choice of gender in the lyrics is intentional. This is a song about love that is seen as impossible, and she thought that it was important to give representation to the struggle that people across the world still face...especially during Pride
O DAM IT'S THE HALFWAY POINT! Great work everyone...hard to believe the year is half over. Looking forward to listening to everyone's posts....this is the best music community in the world
