Simon & Garfunkel – Scarborough Fair Canticle

Scarborough Faire Canticle has been one of my favorite songs since forever or so.  It makes me think about renaissance faire (which will be open in 3 months or so here).  It makes me think of the Vietnam war, which was going on when this song became popular.  It has a haunting melody. And I really love Simon & Garfunkel in general.

That being said, I was listening to this earlier, and started to wonder… if you were sending a message to a long lost true love, why on earth would the very first thing you say to her be to ask her to make you a cambric shirt?  And if she once was a true love, then why would she have to make you a cambric shirt in order to be your love again?  I mean, if you love someone truly, then doesn’t some part of you always love them?

Ok, here’s the kicker – in return for this magic shirt with no sewing required, you simply want to be remembered to her? In return for this impossible task, you’ll simply send your regards?

If I got that kind of message from an old “true love”, I don’t think I’d be too impressed… and I damn sure wouldn’t make him a shirt without seams or needlework in exchange for a mere “hello, I used to love you”.  How rude!

It’s no wonder she upped the ante by demanding an acre of land and some herbs.  If I were you, I’d bring her a bouquet of flowers and some chocolates too.  And probably a card.

Also, if you know where she lives, why don’t you just go ask her yourself, or send a letter? Why make someone else deliver your message?  Maybe he knew she’d be pissed…

Some things are better left unexamined, I suppose.

Scarborough Fair lyrics:

Are you going to scarborough fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
(on the side of a hill in the deep forest green)
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
(tracing a sparrow on snow-crested ground)
Without no seams nor needlework
(blankets and bedclothes a child of the mountains)
Then she’ll be a true love of mine
(sleeps unaware of the clarion call)

Tell him to find me an acre of land
(on the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves)
Parsely, sage, rosemary, & thyme
(washes the grave with silvery tears)
Between the salt water and the sea strand
(a soldier cleans and polishes a gun)
Then he’ll be a true love of mine

Tell him to reap it with a sickle of leather
(war bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions)
Parsely, sage, rosemary & thyme
(generals order their soldiers to kill)
And to gather it all in a bunch of heather
(and to fight for a cause they have long ago forgotten)
Then he’ll be a true love of mine

Are you going to scarborough fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine.