Scarborough Fair (ballad)
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.This version was recorded by a number of musicians in the 20th century, including the iconic 1968 arrangement in counterpoint by the American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, who learned the ballad from Martin Carthy.A slightly different rendition of the ballad (referred to as "The Cambric Shirt", or "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme") had been recorded by John Lomax in 1939 in the United States."And tell 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.[16] The version using the melody later used by Simon & Garfunkel in "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" was sung to Ewan MacColl in 1947 by Mark Anderson (1874–1953), a retired lead miner from Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, England.[citation needed] In 1969, Vicky Leandros recorded the song in several versions for release throughout Europe, Canada and Japan, singing in English, German, French ("Chèvrefeuille que tu es loin") and Greek ("Νά Θυμάσαι Πώς Μ' αγαπάς").[27] The English death-doom metal band My Dying Bride recorded a version with two additional stanzas by its lead singer Aaron Stainthorpe, which appears on its 2009 EP Bring Me Victory.[35][37] "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.