DJ Allyn – The Soundtrack for my Life

Scarborough Fair/Canticle ~ Simon and Garfunkel  

The duo of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are American popular musicians known collectively as Simon & Garfunkel. They met in elementary school in 1953, when they both appeared in the school play Alice in Wonderland (Simon as the White Rabbit, Garfunkel as the Cheshire Cat). They formed the group Tom and Jerry in 1957, and had their first taste of success with the minor hit “Hey Schoolgirl”. As Simon and Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965 backed by the hit single “The Sounds of Silence”. Their music was featured on the landmark film The Graduate, propelling them further into the public consciousness. They are well known for their close harmonies and sometimes unstable relationship. Their last album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was marked with several delays caused by artistic disagreements.

Scarborough Fair/Canticle

The arrangement made famous by Simon and Garfunkel’s Scarborough Fair/Canticle originated in the late 20th century. Paul Simon learned it in 1965 in London from Martin Carthy and set it in counterpoint with Canticle, a reworking of Simon’s 1963 song “The Side of a Hill” with new, anti-war lyrics. It was the title track of the 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, and was released as a single after featuring on the soundtrack to The Graduate in 1968. The copyright credited only Simon and Garfunkel as the authors, causing ill-feeling on the part of Carthy, who felt the “traditional” source should have been credited. This rift remained until Simon invited Carthy to duet the song with him at a London concert in 2000.

This particular video has Andy Williams singing so that both Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel can slip in Canticle. It is a very haunting song in the original recording, and done even better here.

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.

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 a 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)

Tell her to find me an acre of land:

(On the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves)

Parsely, sage, rosemary and thyme;

(Washes the grave with so many tears)

Between the salt water and the sea strand,

(A soldier cleans and polishes a gun)

Then she’ll be a true love of mine.

Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather:

(War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions)

Parsely, 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.

This is the original off of the Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album:

Other Songs Posted for this Artist

• September 26, 2009 -- America ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• June 15, 2009 -- Keep the Customer Satisfied ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• March 28, 2009 -- Punky’s Dilemma ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• March 23, 2009 -- A Poem on the Underground Wall ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• March 22, 2009 -- The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• March 8, 2009 -- Hazy Shade of Winter ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• December 1, 2008 -- The Sounds of Silence ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• November 30, 2008 -- The Boxer ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• November 27, 2008 -- A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d into Submission) ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• November 23, 2008 -- The Dangling Conversation ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• November 19, 2008 -- Homeward Bound ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• November 17, 2008 -- Kathys Song ~ Simon and Garfunkel
• August 3, 2008 -- American Tune ~ Simon and Garfunkel