Are You Going to Scarborough Fair?
Playing my first concert in over a decade and a 400-year-old poem about lost love and laundry.
On Saturday, August 5, I’ll be performing a concert at Copenhagen European Kitchen & Bakery in Katy, Texas. Katy is just west of Houston, so if you’re in the area, please join us. You can find more information and RSVP here.
This is my first concert since before I had children, so it’s been over 10 years. It’s strange remembering songs I wrote in my teens and twenties. Somehow my hands remember the chords, and the lyrics soon follow. It all comes back to me as I sing … where I was, how I was feeling, and what I was wrestling with at the time. They’re like psychological windows into a former me.
You can actually find quite a bit of my music on Spotify, Amazon, iTunes, etc. Two albums are under my maiden name, Jennifer Grassman, and my most recent is under my married name, Jennifer Michelle Greenberg.
In addition to my original songs, I’m warming up a few covers and traditional ballads. These include Ophelia by Natalie Merchant, Unstoppable by Sia, and Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.
One of my favorite traditional ballads is Scarborough Fair. It was made popular in the 1960’s by Simon & Garfunkel, but the song actually dates back to the 1800’s with earlier versions as far back as the 1600’s.
The lyrics are written from the perspective of a gardener who is selling herbs. Meanwhile, a fair is underway in the seaside town of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Unfortunately for the gardener, that just happens to be where his unfaithful ex-girlfriend lives. So, as he sells his herbs, he complains about her to the people he meets.
“O, where are you going?” “To Scarborough fair,”
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
“Remember me to a lass who lives there,
For once she was a true love of mine.”
His lament is punctuated by his sales-pitch - “Savoury sage! Rosemary! Thyme!” - which he calls out to passersby along the road to Scarborough. Between selling herbs, he continues his bitter tale.
"Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme!
Without any seam or needlework,
Then she shall be a true love of mine.”
Cambric is a fine material, likely hard to come by in that period. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was most often made of cotton and used in formal attire, handkerchiefs, lace, and embroidery.
It seems that our jilted gardener is being facetious. His ex could likely never afford such elegant material, and he’s asking her to do the impossible. He’s basically saying, “Tell her I’ll take her back if she sews me a shirt without using any thread.” He then continues this bitter taunt, claiming he’ll love her again if she washes his laundry without using any water.
“And ell her to wash it in yonder dry well,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme,
Where no water sprung, nor a drop of rain fell,
And then she shall be a true love of mine.”
An even earlier version of the ballad originated in Scottland around 1600. It’s known as The Fairy Knight.
The Elfin knight stands on yon hill,
Blaw, blaw, blaw, winds, blaw!
Blawing his horn loud and shrill.
The wind has blawn my plaid away.
If I had yon horn in my kist,
Blaw, blaw, blaw, winds, blaw
And the bonny ladie here that I luve best!
The wind has blawn my plaid away.
Apparently, the song has always been about heartbreak and laundry. It makes sense, really, when you think about it. As a mom of three girls, I seem to always have a mountain of clothes that need to be washed, folded, and put away. I can’t imagine how much worse it was before washing machines and driers, let alone running water. It would have been exactly the kind of tribulation one would write a depressing song about.
Essentially, the core message of the lyrics has always been, “My girlfriend cheated and I have no clean clothes.”
Relatable.
Of course, singing about lost love is tragic enough without bringing laundry into it. So, in my early twenties, I wrote new lyrics. Here they are:
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme!
Remember me to one who lives there,
He was once a true love of mine.
In the night my love was unkind
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme!
He dreamt of her and left me behind,
He’s no more a true love of mine.
Want for wealth and comforts so vain
Drove away that one love of mine,
And so my heart is cleft into twain;
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme!
Deep in the dark night I still see his face,
Who now has vanished and left me no trace,
Fighting my longing to follow him there;
Follow my heart to Scarborough Fair.
I’ll be playing Scarborough Fair at my concert on Saturday evening. For those of you not in the Houston area, I’ll see about recording a video.
Copenhagen European Kitchen & Bakery
981 South Mason Road, Katy, TX 77450
Saturday, August 5, 7:00 – 8:30PM
Admission is free. Families welcome.
See you soon!
Jenn
Enjoy your concert, Michelle! 🎶
This song is a lovely one, but I had no idea of its origins. Shows we're never to old to learn 😊 I'm in my 7th decade, Thank The Lord🌟