Scarborough Fair/Canticle
Producer
Scarborough Fair/Canticle 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
[Verse 2]
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
On the side of a hill, in the deep forest green
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Tracing of sparrow on snow-crested ground
Without no seams nor needlework
Blankets and bedclothes, the child of the mountain
Then she'll be a true love of mine
Sleeps unaware of the clarion call
[Verse 3]
Tell her to find me an acre of land
On the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Washes the grave with silvery tears
Between the saltwater and the sea strands
A soldier cleans and polishes a gun
Then she'll be a true love of mine
[Verse 4]
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather
War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Generals order their soldiers to kill
And gather it all in a bunch of heather
And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten
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
About
“Scarborough Fair” is a traditional English folk ballad, detailing a list of tasks the speaker gives to his former lover to earn back his love, which are impossible to achieve (probably intended as a way of saying they’ll never get it back). Paul Simon became aware of the song during his time in England, thanks to singer Martin Carthy, who had covered it in his first album.
Simon and Garfunkel made an arrangement of their own for “Scarborough Fair” while interpolating in counterpoint an earlier song of Simon’s, “The Side of a Hill”. The lyrics had some changes and so the song was renamed “Canticle”.
Originally released in Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, for which it gives its title, the song reached the peak of its popularity when it was made a single in 1968, after being included in the soundtrack of The Graduate, reaching #11 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #9 in the UK Singles one.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Paul Simon. The song, titled “The Side of a Hill”, is from his first album, The Paul Simon Songbook, though he made some small lyric changes for the “Canticle”.