Simon & Garfunkel - Scarborough Fair/Canticle (1970)

Simon & Garfunkel version[edit source] In London in 1965, Paul Simon learned the song from Martin Carthy,[28][29] who had picked up the song from the songbook by MacColl and Seeger[30] 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",[31] set to a new melody composed mainly by Art Garfunkel.[30][32] "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.[30] The copyright credited only Simon and Garfunkel as the authors, which upset Carthy, who felt that the "traditional" source should have been credited.[30] The rift persisted until Simon invited Carthy to perform the song with him as a duet at a London concert in 2000.[30] 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",[33] 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). "Scarborough Fair" (Child 2, Roud 12) is a traditional English ballad.[1] The song, which is a variant of The Elfin Knight, lists a number of impossible tasks given to a former lover who lives in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The "Scarborough/Whittingham Fair" variant was most common in Yorkshire and Northumbria, where it was sung to various melodies, often using Dorian mode, with refrains resembling "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" and "Then she'll be a true love of mine."[2] It appears in Traditional Tunes by Frank Kidson published in 1891, who claims to have collected it from Whitby.[3] The famous melody was collected from Mark Anderson (1874–1953), a retired lead miner from Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, England, by Ewan MacColl in 1947. This version was recorded by a number of musicians in the 20th century, including the version by the 1960s folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, who learned it from Martin Carthy.

Added 13 Jul 2026