Scarbro Fair- Sam Hayes (York) 1883 Frank Kidson A
[From ESPB's Additions and Corrections, Volume 2. Two versions were sent to Child dated 1884 with this title by Kidson collected in Yorkshire.
This first version Kidson A, was heard by Samuel Stather of Beverly "some twenty years ago, an old man named Sam Hayes singing this ballad in Whitby streets" Leeds Mercury, 25.8.1883, Local Notes and Queries CCXLI, available at BNCN, Gale DocNr. BC3201777770). Kidson edited this text and published it as "Scarborough Fair" in his Traditional Tunes in 1891.
Kidson even edited this original text- see footnotes.
R. Matteson 2018]
Child: Another variety of F, G, communicated by Mr Frank Kidson, Leeds, 1884; from tradition.
Scarbro' Fair- as sung by Sam Hayes from Whitby, Yorkshire dated 1884, sent to Child by Frank Kidson. Text printed in Leeds Mercury, 1883 by Samuel Stather of Beverly
1 'Oh where are you going?' 'To Scarbro fair[1]'
Savoury[2], sage, rosemary and thyme
'Remember me to a lass who lives there;
For once she was a true lover of mine.
2 'And tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Without a needle or thread or ought else;
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.
3 'And tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Where water ne'er sprung nor a drop of rain fell;
And then, etc.
4 'And tell her to hang it on yonder stone,
Where moss never grew since Adam was born.
5 'And when she has finished and done, her I'll repay[3],
She can come unto me and married we'll be.'
6 'Oh where are you going?' 'To Scarbro fair.'[4]
'Remember me to a lad who lives there;
For once he was a true lover of mine.
7 'And tell him to buy me an acre of land
Between the wide ocean and the[5] sea-sand
And then he, etc.
8 'And tell him to plough it with a ram's horn,
And sow it all over with one pepper-corn.
9 'And tell him to reap't with a sickle of leather,
And bind it up with a peacock's feather.
10 'And when he has finished, and done his work[6],
He can come unto me for his cambric shirt.'
1. originally: Oh when are you going to Scarbro Fair,
2. Savory
3. "her I'll repay"was added, originally: 'And when she has finished and done (repeat)'
4. Oh when are you going to Scarbro Fair,
5. "and yonder sea-sand"
6. "And when he's finish'd and done his work"