Scarborough Fair- Robert Beadle (York) 1911 Carey
[From Clive Carey Manuscript Collection (CC/1/370) also 1915 Clive Carey Ten English Folk-Songs (p. 20-22). The refrain was "originally sung 'Parcil, sedge, romary and thyme'." Music by Kloss. Also, without accompaniment, in Wells' 1950, p. 171.
R. Matteson 2018]
"Scarborough Fair" sung by Robert Beadle of Stoupe Brow, Yorkshire in 1911. Collected by Clive Carey.
To Scarborough Fair are you going?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Oh give my love to a girl who lives there,
For once she was a true lover of mine.
Oh, tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any needle or thread worked in it,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Where never spring water nor rain ever fell.
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to hang it on yonder thorn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born.
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
And when she has answered these questions three,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
If he can answer as many for me,
Then he shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell him to find me an acre of land,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Betwixt the salt water all on the sea sand.
Then he shall be a true lover of mine.
And tell him to plough it with a ram’s horn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And all over sow it with one pepper corn.
Then he shall be a true lover of mine.
And tell him to cut it with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And bind it all up in a peacock’s feather.
Then he shall be a true lover of mine.
And when he has done and finished his work,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
He can come unto me for his cambric shirt.
Then he shall be a true lover of mine.