# Scarborough Fair song? origins story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2000, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scarborough-fair-song-origins-story/45060 "2000-12-11T19:34:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Prof.Dumbledore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dfb087/32.png) [@Prof.Dumbledore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Dumbledore)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scarborough-fair-song-origins-story/45060/1 "2000-12-11T19:34:40Z")
Hi, while simon and garfunkel’s scarborough fair was playing, a friend told me that the song was about pagan custom of the queen marrying a person with red hair, making him king for one day and having sex with him, the next morning she would bathe him with parsley,sage, rosemary and thyme and then she would cut his head off. This was a pagan sacrificial custom. The song is supposed to be about such a chosen king who was sacrificed but on that one night with the queen, he falls in love with her and he is singing the song. Is this true, 'cos i just read on a website,that it was sung by a lover for his girl who has vanished, and he is setting her impossible tasks for her, before he will accept her. I think the song fits more with the former version. Which is the true one? ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scarborough-fair-song-origins-story/45060/2 "2000-12-11T19:54:59Z")
[Moderator Hat ON] I think this’ll do better in General Questions. [Moderator Hat OFF] ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scarborough-fair-song-origins-story/45060/3 "2000-12-11T20:31:34Z")
I have not hear the Pagan explanation (although I _have_ heard the story that a king would be chosen for seven years, then sacrificed to the gods). My interpretation of the song is that a man is singing about the woman who left him for another man, and that he is setting impossible tasks for her to accomplish before he’ll take her back. That is, he has decided never to take her back, but still hurts about it. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scarborough-fair-song-origins-story/45060/4 "2000-12-11T20:52:05Z")
I’d agree with the “impossible tasks” interpretation. [http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Villa/3895/](http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Villa/3895/) There’s a site with that interpretation. It seems to make sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scarborough-fair-song-origins-story/45060/5 "2000-12-11T21:22:45Z")
Like most traditional songs, Scarborough Fair has many versions. Simon and Garfunkel basically sang an excerpt of one version, since it is a fairly long song. One version I like is a duet. First, the man sets the woman a few tasks related to a cambric shirt (no seams, wash it in a dry well, etc.). She replies, suggesting that he do certain difficult farming tasks (find land between the sea and the beach, plow it with a horse’s horn, etc.). Once he’s done these things, she says he can have his shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Dumbledore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dfb087/32.png) [@Prof.Dumbledore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Dumbledore)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scarborough-fair-song-origins-story/45060/6 "2000-12-12T08:13:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Captain Amazing \* > \*\*I’d agree with the “impossible tasks” interpretation. > > [http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Villa/3895/](http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Villa/3895/) > > There’s a site with that interpretation. It seems to make sense to me. \*\* Hey thats the site i mentioned in my op. But the problem was that i don’t get it. I mean my friend explained the lines and the cambric shirt was the shirt doused in the kings blood or something and the sickle was used to cut off his hair or his throat or something like that, i heard this a couple of years ago so excuse moi french. Please has ANYONE heard the pagan explanation? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scarborough-fair-song-origins-story/45060/7 "2000-12-12T12:51:07Z")
Well, this (from a discussion of the Child Ballads) in [Early Child Ballads](http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/ballads/early_child/) doesn’t mention the sacrificial king theme, but it may provide a clue in relating it to an older song; > [@](#): > > “Scarborough Fair” (Child #2) is a modern ballad: The “parsely, sage, rosemary, and thyme” lyrics can be traced to the early nineteenth century, and the melody popularized and modified by Simon and Garfunkel can be traced to the late nineteenth century. An earlier form of this ballad, however, “The Elfin Knight”, can be documented back to 1670. The impossible tasks are the familiar ones, but to them is added the barest skeleton of a plot: The reason the singer is making impossible demands is so that she won’t have to marry an Elvish suitor. Our earliest melodies for “The Elfin Knight” come from the eighteenth century. This makes sense as the lyrics as poularly given do sound somehow modernised. And at least it gives you the other-wordly connection. Plus, stuff like between the land and the shore in the sense of referring to a somehow indetermined “between two states” concept, similar to Hallowe’en, for instance, are common in folk tale and song. This link above also discusses Freemasonry’s use of neo-pagan ritual, with a slight reference to the song. Don’t suppose that helps much either, but I suppose you could have fun tracing older versions of the song that might help indicate any possible meaning behind the lyrics. Any, whouldn’t someone at Hogwarts know?🙂