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Scarborough Fair

DigiTrad:
AN ACRE OF LAND
ELFIN KNIGHT 3
ELFIN KNIGHT 4
ELFIN KNIGHT 5
REDIO, TEDIO
SCARBOROUGH FAIR
SCARBOROUGH FAIR (2)
THE ELFIN KNIGHT
THE ELFIN KNIGHT 2
THE LAIRD O' ELFIN


Related threads:
Lyr ADD: Scarborough Fair / Canticle (11)
(origins) Origins: Scarborough Fair / Robert Westall (27)
(origins) Scarborough Fair: uncorrupting the corruptible (26)
(origins) Origins: Scarborough Fair (46)
(origins) Origin: Scarborough Fair: earliest version? (40)
Lyr Req: The Cambric Shirt (Ritchie & Brand) (13)
Lyr Req: Scarborough Fair / Canticle (Simon & Garf (23)
(origins) lost verse, Scarborough Fair (25)
North Country/Scarborough Fair (9)
Lyr Req: An Acre of Land (29)
Help: Parsley, sage.... (20)
Lyr/Tune Add: Strawberry Lane (2)


Jim Carroll 23 May 08 - 01:33 PM
irishenglish 23 May 08 - 01:40 PM
Jim Carroll 23 May 08 - 02:29 PM
GUEST,Steve Gardham 23 May 08 - 05:24 PM
Suegorgeous 23 May 08 - 08:53 PM
curmudgeon 24 May 08 - 06:27 PM
Jim Carroll 25 May 08 - 02:36 PM
Jim Carroll 25 May 08 - 02:50 PM
irishenglish 25 May 08 - 04:01 PM
Jim Carroll 25 May 08 - 04:08 PM
irishenglish 25 May 08 - 04:20 PM
The Sandman 25 May 08 - 04:24 PM
Jim Carroll 25 May 08 - 04:47 PM
Terry McDonald 25 May 08 - 05:07 PM
Jim Carroll 26 May 08 - 02:47 AM
GUEST,Steve Gardham 26 May 08 - 06:51 PM
Jim Carroll 27 May 08 - 05:22 AM
The Sandman 27 May 08 - 05:53 AM
Jack Campin 27 May 08 - 06:01 AM
Jim Carroll 27 May 08 - 07:49 AM
The Sandman 27 May 08 - 08:50 AM
Jim Carroll 27 May 08 - 09:51 AM
The Sandman 27 May 08 - 10:25 AM
Jim Carroll 27 May 08 - 11:31 AM
GUEST,Steve Gardham 27 May 08 - 04:39 PM
The Sandman 30 May 08 - 08:11 AM
Mr Happy 30 May 08 - 08:38 AM
Folkiedave 30 May 08 - 09:54 AM
The Sandman 30 May 08 - 12:30 PM
BB 03 Jun 08 - 02:38 PM
The Sandman 03 Jun 08 - 02:54 PM
Steve Gardham 03 Jun 08 - 03:30 PM
The Sandman 03 Jun 08 - 04:18 PM
MGM·Lion 29 May 11 - 03:28 AM
MGM·Lion 29 May 11 - 04:02 AM
MGM·Lion 30 May 11 - 02:51 AM
GUEST,Philippa 05 May 15 - 05:47 PM
Betsy 05 May 15 - 06:28 PM
GUEST,Derek Schofield 06 May 15 - 06:31 AM
Lighter 06 May 15 - 06:50 AM
Jack Campin 06 May 15 - 07:16 AM
Penny S. 06 May 15 - 08:18 AM
GUEST,Derek Schofield 06 May 15 - 08:18 AM
Lighter 06 May 15 - 09:54 AM
FreddyHeadey 06 May 15 - 10:29 AM
GUEST,Derek Schofield 06 May 15 - 02:44 PM
Brian Peters 06 May 15 - 05:21 PM
Mr Red 07 May 15 - 03:32 AM
Lighter 07 May 15 - 09:32 AM
FreddyHeadey 07 May 15 - 11:06 AM
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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 May 08 - 01:33 PM

Irishenglish
For me the song is basically two people stating their mutual dislike of each other. Carthy has a naturally light voice and I have always thought that tonally, he has never developed it enough to to project the tension that this type of narrative demands.
(IMO) His accompaniment dominates the text anyway so that the listener's attention is drawn to the that rather than the somewhat bitter dialogue, turning the performance into a listenable but somewhat insipid musical performance.
To be fair to Carthy, he is nowhere near the only singer who adopts this approach - accompaniment has spoiled more songs than it has enhanced, simply because it doesn't - accompany, that is.
Jim Carroll.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: irishenglish
Date: 23 May 08 - 01:40 PM

Well, to each their own Jim, but all I can say is the first time I heard Carthy do epics like Prince Heathen, and especially The Famous Flower Of Serving Men I was in a different place, they just consumed my mind. I was entranced by the tension of the story line. Has everything worked, no of course not, and your opinion is your own, I respectfully disagree though.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 May 08 - 02:29 PM

Prince Heathen and Famous Flower are two very different songs requiring requiring very different approaches.
I've heard C's Prince Heathen, and again - not enough vocal strength for my taste; Bert Lloyd (who virtually re-made the song), got away with it with the use of recitative. Not heard Cathy's F.F. so I wouldn't pass an opinion.
Happy to disagree; it's what these forums are about.
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: GUEST,Steve Gardham
Date: 23 May 08 - 05:24 PM

Usually I like the later minimalist versions of ballads like SF but in this case I prefer both the riddle/wit combat of the Elfin Knight, which gives the combat more of a point, and the simple homely 'Acre of Land' which it spawned and is still sung in many farming communities all over England. We once collected 3 different tunes/choruses from people living almost in adjacent houses.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 23 May 08 - 08:53 PM

Irishenglish

What did happen between them?


Another impossible task song is Captain Wedderburn's courtship, which I rather like.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: curmudgeon
Date: 24 May 08 - 06:27 PM

I first encountered SF in my late teens on the Riverside LP, Matching Songs of the British Isles and America, MacColl- Seeger.

The version Ewan sang was strong, free sung and unaccompanied. Text and tune were probably Carthy's source. I took to Ewan's version instantly, and have been singing it for the past forty five or so years.

But I was also taken by the version of The Cambric Shirt that Peggy did on the album. She said it came from the Southern Appallachians; it has some of the elements of Child's J text. But what struck me was that the man asks:

"Where are you going, I'm going to Lynn.."

and the woman replies:

"Where are you going, I'm going to Cape Ann..."

These two places are close by on the North Shore of Massachusetts, but Southern Appalachians? I did later find it in the Flanders collection.

My understanding, over the years, and a lot of reading from forgatten sources was that this is a ballad ofmagical activities; none of the tasks can be completed otherwise, and that the herbal incantation was a protection for both singer and listener.

Perhaps someone with better memory or handier access to Child can add more to my thoughts - Tom Hall


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 25 May 08 - 02:36 PM

Tom
"a ballad of magical activities;"
There's no great evidence for this; the conclusion that it is a supernatural ballad seems to be based on the title 'Elphin' or 'Elfin Knight'
The Standard Dictionary of Folklore makes the point '...the elfin-ness of the knight plays no essential part in the story'.
Child gives a number of parallel folk tales all based on trickery and cleverness on the part of the woman, rather than magic.
I think there is a danger of over-complicating these ballads by reading aspects into them that are simply not there.
The most blatant example of this is to be found in Phillips Barry's note to 'The Lake of Col Fin' in the New Green Mountain Songster, manages to turn what is one of our most beautiful songs concerning domestic tragedy into a tale of enchantment, magic islands and water nymphs.
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 25 May 08 - 02:50 PM

PS,
On The Long Harvest Peggy gives the version you refer to, as being "a collated text from Bronson using Mrs Mitchell's (Burnsville, N.C.) tune.
Peggy's text appears to be largely based on one from Vermont.
jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: irishenglish
Date: 25 May 08 - 04:01 PM

Sue, when S & G's version came out, it was attributed to Paul Simon, it wasn't credited as being traditional, or even traditional, arranged by Carthy, which would have been the proper thing for Paul Simon to do. I don't think Carthy was annoyed that SImon was succesful, just that he didn't attribute it as a traditional song, and within the folk community, it was fairly well known that Carthy was a little peeved. Just a couple of years ago, when Free Reed's Carthy Chronicles came out, somehow they got the two in touch with each other again, and Simon wrote a little tribute note for the booklet, and shortly after that, when Simon was performing in London, he brought Carthy out to sing it together!


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 25 May 08 - 04:08 PM

Irishenglish,
I wonder did Carthy attribute it to retired lead-miner Mark Anderson, from whom that particular version came.
Too often, for my liking, the source of the song is forgotten in the wrangle about 'Carthy's', 'S&Gs' or whoever's version - which, of course, in itself, is pretty meaningless as it is part of a centuries old chain.
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: irishenglish
Date: 25 May 08 - 04:20 PM

Jim, you fail to see the point, millions of people looking at the back cover of a S&G album, even to this day see those words written by Paul Simon-do you think that is meaningless? Carthy did not mention Mark Anderson, but at least HE attributed it to being traditional, which was the bone of contenion. I have had to correct people when they think Simon wrote those words and tell them it is an ancient song. If they want to then follow it back further and find out all of the different variants, etc. from there, great, if not, then at least they will know it is a traditional English folksong.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: The Sandman
Date: 25 May 08 - 04:24 PM

JIM ,Presumably Mark Anderson learned it from someone else.
with the greatest respect it could be argued from your argument,that Mark Anderson was not the original source anymore than Carthy,but he was the last known source.
somebody must have written the song originally,yes it may possibly have been added to,all traditional material is author unknown,but is originally someones composition.
Mark Anderson did not write the song,he was part of a chain,just as Carthy and S and G are.that does not mean I dont appreciate Mark Andersons role,as a song carrier.
Dick Miles


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 25 May 08 - 04:47 PM

Irishenglish
I take your point completely
Cap'n,
Isn't that what I just said?
"which, of course, in itself, is pretty meaningless as it is part of a centuries old chain"
Whosever the song is, it is certainly neither Carthy's not S&Gs (none of whom are part of the tradition, merely borrowing from it)
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Terry McDonald
Date: 25 May 08 - 05:07 PM

Give it another 50 years and I reckon Carthy will most definitely be 'part of the tradtion.'


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 26 May 08 - 02:47 AM

Nope - but that's another argument
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: GUEST,Steve Gardham
Date: 26 May 08 - 06:51 PM

Dick
'all traditional material is author unknown'.
I'm sure you must have made a faux pas on that one. There's a considerable amount of traditional material for which we know the authors, from the 16th century right upto at least 1908 and probably even more recent.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 May 08 - 05:22 AM

Steve
"There's a considerable amount of traditional material for which we know the authors"
There's certainly some, but I think 'considerable' is overstating it a little.
There are several writers whose songs have passed into the tradition here in Ireland, but I would be hard pressed to name many in the UK
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: The Sandman
Date: 27 May 08 - 05:53 AM

S G ,may have got a lot of people interested in the song by popularising it,who would not otherwise have heard it.
Sometimes,through hearing other versions,and this is where youtube is so handy,they can hear more authentic or closer to the tradition versions.
Jim,there is an audio site called Sound lantern.
you could put some recordings of traditional singers up,you believe in sharing the music and have criticised the revival for being money orientated,there would be people on the site such as myself,who would be interested in hearing your recordings,a chance for you to share the music for free.
Steve.thats a subject,that deserves a thread of its own ,join mudcat and you can start a thread,right now I am off to play some music.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 May 08 - 06:01 AM

Martin Parker, Thomas Lanfiere, Allan Ramsay, Robert Burns, John Hamilton, Robert Tannahill, Sandy Rodger, Blind Willie Purvis, Lady Nairne, Lady John Scott, Harry Lauder, Willie Kemp, Hamish Henderson, Morris Blythman...


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 May 08 - 07:49 AM

Cap'n,
Our complete collection will, we hope, be available on line on a web-site connected with a local archive we are helping set up.
It has been available to anybody interested at The British Library, The Irish Traditional Music Archive and The Irish Folklore Department for at least 20 years. These organisations are welcome to make it available on their individual web-sites should they wish to do so, and should the revival wish to assist them raise the funds to facilitate the development of their sites.
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: The Sandman
Date: 27 May 08 - 08:50 AM

best of luck with it,Jim.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 May 08 - 09:51 AM

Thank you Cap'n
I should have added that our recordings are also available on From Puck To Appleby (Travellers) and Around The Hills of Clare, though the latter is reaching the end of its third pressing and may not be re-issued.
There are also tracks included on Voice of the People and Century of Song.
Any money arising from the sale of our recordings have always been donated to The Irish Traditional Music Archive, and so is ploughed back directly into the music.
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: The Sandman
Date: 27 May 08 - 10:25 AM

I have Around the Hills of Clare,and have enjoyed it.
but you know if you were to put up a track on sound lantern,you are exposing people to traditional singers,and its all publicity,that costs you nothing and may result in a sale.
only trying to be helpful,not meaning to tell my grandmother how to suck eggs.Dick Miles


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 May 08 - 11:31 AM

Cap'n
If I thought there was enough interest to get the songs take up by the next generation I would stand on Oxford Circus and give them out.
You get to a point where you think it's time that people made the effort themselves instead of having them dropped through the letterbox.
It can be somewhat disheartening to make your material as available as you are able, then hear people complain that they still aren't available enough.
When Tom Munnelly put together his recordings of John Reilly (arguably one of the most important traditional ballad singers in the 20th century) for Topic (Bonny Green Tree), and donated the proceeds to a Traveller education scheme, the sales were insultingly pathetic.
Then there's the crappy job that revival singers make of the songs; in our case, June Tabour.
I won't reopen old arguments about snide references to traditional singers' abilities.....
I quite often ask myself (until I remember the great people we've met in the process of collecting) whether it was worth it.
As far as I'm concerned, the recordings are there for anybody who is prepared to get up off their bum and access them.
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: GUEST,Steve Gardham
Date: 27 May 08 - 04:39 PM

Jack, And they're just the famous ones. Many of Harry Clifton's, Joe Geoghegan's, Sam Cowell's songs of the 1860s were found in oral tradition during the last century and some are still turning up. We know the authors of some of the broadside ballads of the early nineteenth century as well, e.g. John Morgan, George Brown.

Jim, Dick,
The first phase of the Yorkshire Garland project now has 88 recordings on the site, mostly of source singers, and some not available previously. Also like your collection, Jim, my recordings made in the East Riding with Jim Eldon are also at the BLSA, and a copy now in the VWML. If we can get further funding we hope to put some of the Hudleston recordings online as well.

Cheers,
Steve


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 May 08 - 08:11 AM

I am convinced,that the only way to get people to hear traditional singers,is to use the internet to expose them to the music.,the more the ordinary [non folkie hears],the more their ear gets attuned to the style.
unfortunately we now live in an age where people expect everything to be easily available.
I had never heard Roscoe Holcomb sing until I found him on Pete Seegers show on youtube.
IMO The music has to be publicised in an over the top way,only a small amount of people will come seeking it,We now have the opportunity through you tube /sound lantern and other sites to reach thousands of people,and to push traditional singers into the mainstream.Dick Miles


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Mr Happy
Date: 30 May 08 - 08:38 AM

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-7w4BLQVXFo Hmmmmmnnn,
not always fair then!


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Folkiedave
Date: 30 May 08 - 09:54 AM

Best version of Scarborough Fair is from the Book Of Curtailed Folksongs

Are you going to Scarborough Fair ?
No.

Best song from the book?

The gallant frigate "Amphitrite" she sank in Plymouth Sound.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 May 08 - 12:30 PM

mr happy what alovely collection of thunderstorms.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: BB
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 02:38 PM

No, no, Dave, you've got it wrong - it "The gallant frigate Araldite, she stuck to Plymouth Sound." :-)

Barbara


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 02:54 PM

Rounding of the Horn,is a good song.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 03:30 PM

I thought it was a radio programme!


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 04:18 PM

oh yes, Round the Horn,with Kenneth Horne


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 29 May 11 - 03:28 AM

Refreshing this old thread, [& setting aside the facetious turn it had taken in last few posts!]----

I recently posted the following to another ongoing thread which had drifted on to Scarboro Fair ~~

-----Subject: RE: Origins: Boots of Spanish Leather (Bob Dylan)
From: MtheGM - PM
Date: 28 May 11 - 12:39 PM

Nobody above [or did I miss it?] has given the correct source for MacColl's version of Scarboro Fair, later sung by Carthy & stolen by SimGarf ~~

~~sung by Mark Anderson, retired lead miner of Middleton-in-Teasdale, Yorkshire, 1947 ~~ performed by Ewan MacColl on Argo's The Long Harvest, vol 2, 1967: side 1, Section 2, The Elfin Knight {Child 2}.---


Mr Anderson is mentioned above by Jim Carroll, and taken up as a source by Dick {GSS} Miles wjo OPd this thread. But the precision of my above refs seems to be lacking on this major thread, which is why I venture to repeat it here.

BTW, I cannot find this tune in Bronson: too late for his first, early 60s, volume; but does not seem to be in addenda at end of vol 4, 1972, either, tho known by then. Can anyone explain this? Or is it somewhere there & I have failed to locate it?



~Michael~


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 29 May 11 - 04:02 AM

Would add that, tho the point has most probably been made on one or some of the several threads on this ballad, which I have not had quite the energy or dedication to read thru every one of, LoL!, it doesn't seem to be made here, & IMO should be recalled on every thread re this song:-

i.e. that it is a version of The Elfin Knight, Child#2, about a *magic* knight giving a mortal girl various tasks to do before she can join him in Faerie & become enchanted, & enchantress, herself;   & that the herbs specified in the burden are all recognised *magic* plants.

This has been somewhat misunderstood in some versions, tho the variations often have a charm of their own. I have always found "Sober and grave grow merry in time", in one of the US variants which Peggy sang on The Long Harvest, a most fertile and interesting version, making a peculiar sort of sense.

~M~


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 30 May 11 - 02:51 AM

---BTW, I cannot find this tune in Bronson: too late for his first, early 60s, volume; but does not seem to be in addenda at end of vol 4, 1972, either, tho known by then. Can anyone explain this? Or is it somewhere there & I have failed to locate it?---

Refresh to repeat this question ~~

Anyone?

~M~


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 05 May 15 - 05:47 PM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05stg0l
radio
broadcast today 5 May 2015 and available now on i-player
30 min programme

"Tomorrow we're going in search of a song and in search of a dream of England which has travelled right around the world" - Will Parsons

No one can be sure of the true origins of the song Scarborough Fair. It's a melody of mystery, of voices of old, of ancient days. It's travelled through land and time, drawing singers and listeners in where ever they maybe.

For Will Parsons and Guy Hayward it's a song that has inspired a pilgrimage through a landscape that is embodied in the lyrics. Setting off from Whitby Abbey, they journey to Scarborough on foot, sensing the song as they go, learning to sing it, interpreting it in a new way just as thousands of traditional singers have done throughout time.

This too is the landscape of Martin Carthy, the 'father of folk' who has made his home along the Yorkshire coast. It was from this legendary singer that Paul Simon first learnt Scarborough Fair, creating a version that came to represent a generation continuing its journey far and wide, weaving its spell in many different guises, never truly being pinned down.

Decades on Harpist Claire Jones recorded a version of her own. Arranged by her husband, the composer Chris Marshall, hers is a very personal journey through unexpected illness to recovery. Whilst for Mike Masheder it is a song that brings memories of his wife Sally, who approached the journey of life with love and equanimity.

"It can change or stay the same. And the more it changes, the more it stays the same" - Martin Carthy

Produced by Nicola Humphries
With expert contribution from Sandra Kerr, musician and lecturer at Newcastle University School of Arts and Culture.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Betsy
Date: 05 May 15 - 06:28 PM

I listened to the programme.
Maybe I'm a bit of a uni-directional thinker or philistine , but I couldn't understand the over-dependency on the programme's content of
"Decades on Harpist Claire Jones recorded a version of her own. Arranged by her husband, the composer Chris Marshall, hers is a very personal journey through unexpected illness to recovery. Whilst for Mike Masheder it is a song that brings memories of his wife Sally, who approached the journey of life with love and equanimity".
I was totally confused and slightly miffed.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield
Date: 06 May 15 - 06:31 AM

Betsy ... have you heard any of the other programmes in this series? The impact of the songs/music, what they mean to people, how important they have been at crucial points in people's lives is the main point of the programmes. There have been some moving commentaries in some programmes. I suppose the programme makers start with the song/music and then go in search of people to whom the song/music has been significant. Sometimes that works.

I'd perhaps have to listen to the programme again in case I missed it, but it didn't strike me that anyone made the point that only a small number of versions of the song actually mention Scarborough.... and they could have talked to members of the Mark Anderson family (from whom MacColl apparently got the version in Singing Island which Martin Carthy learned and Paul Simon copied...). The programme makers did know about all this - I sent them the issue of English Dance & Song magazine with Mike Bettison's article about it all ...

Derek


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Lighter
Date: 06 May 15 - 06:50 AM

> they could have talked to members of the Mark Anderson family (from whom MacColl apparently got the version in Singing Island which Martin Carthy learned and Paul Simon copied...).

It has been alleged (on what basis I'm not sure) that Mark Anderson did not exist, and that MacColl himself was largely responsible for the song's perfect combination of melody and lyrics. Considering the controversy surrounding the trad status of that seminal version, it's incredible that they didn't.

Or...did they?

Was MacColl even mentioned?

(The melody resembles the best-known version of "Henry Martyn.")


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Jack Campin
Date: 06 May 15 - 07:16 AM

The impact of the songs/music, what they mean to people, how important they have been at crucial points in people's lives is the main point of the programmes.

Scarborough Fair (the S&G tune) has had an oddly specific function in the folk scene, though perhaps not one the programme makers would have wanted to document in interviews. On several occasions I've seen it played (rather badly) by young women on just arriving at the folk scene for the first time, usually on the flute, recorder or tin whistle. It was used to signal two things: (a) willingness to take part in the scene, (b) sexual availability. This was particularly true back when you could wear a Joan Baez hairstyle and a crochet cheesecloth dress without looking like a museum exhibit.

Almost any other choice of initial repertoire indicated somebody with a mind of their own.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Penny S.
Date: 06 May 15 - 08:18 AM

Oh dear, perhaps I'd better drop it, though no wind instrument.

I do the version with two people's voices, and especially enjoy the last verse, in which the she tells the he where to get off.

I couldn't quite understand, from the programme, how the S&G version was linked to the anti-Vietnam war movement.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield
Date: 06 May 15 - 08:18 AM

Lighter - he certainly existed. Alan Lomax recorded from him and you can hear the recordings in his online archive. He didn't sing Scarborough Fair to Lomax though ... and there are no recordings of the song sung by Anderson by any other collectors. There are suspicions that MacColl altered the tune... it has some MacColl hallmarks... all very interesting and perhaps the subject of a future radio programme ... (or get hold of the relevant issue of English Dance & Song magazine!!)
Derek


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Lighter
Date: 06 May 15 - 09:54 AM

Derek, so Anderson did exist - but he may not have known "Scarborough Fair"!

Perhaps they did interview his family and came up with nothing about the song. The whole question would be too complicated and distracting for a 30-minute radio program to deal with.

I'm interested in the MacColl "hallmarks" you mention. Melodic I assume?

Jack, "(b) sexual availability." How would anybody pick up on that just from "Scarborough Fair"? (I'd have thought "Foggy, Foggy Dew" would have worked better; but even then....)

"Mystery," "ancient voices," "pilgrimage," "sensing the song as they go," "journey," "learning to sing it" - obviously in ways no one can in London. Regardless of the program's actual content, the sort of audience the writers appear to have been targeting was mostly young women high on the New Age and "Puck of Pook's Hill."


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 06 May 15 - 10:29 AM

r4 producers must know what their audience likes.
I enjoyed the 'music' bits, MC etc.
I suppose the Claire Jones/Chris Marshall, Sally/Mike Masheder bits were the 'soul' of the programme title.

Too much wind noise for a radio prog but there is a better H&P version on YTube Hayward & Parsons -Scarborough Fair.

Their FB page is Hayward & Parsons FaceBook with links to other songs.

I've been enjoying the early one by Audrey Coppard (pos' only a spotify link)Audrey Coppard -Scarborough Fair.

and the slightly different melody of Gordon Heath/Lee Payant -Scarborough Fair (pos' only a spotify link) though the style is somewhat odd!


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield
Date: 06 May 15 - 02:44 PM

Lighter .... the family told Mike Bettison recently that Mark was the person who sang THAT version of Scarborough Fair, but they might have had that information from the Singing Island!!

For MacColl hallmarks, see the Becket Whitehead thread, and the message from Brian peters on 13 January 2014 at 9.35.

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=61225&messages=90#3592242

Derek


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Brian Peters
Date: 06 May 15 - 05:21 PM

To save you the bother of following Derek's link, here's what I suggested a year and a half ago:

"It occurred to me recently, after reading Mike Bettison's piece in
English Dance and Song, in which he suggested that MacColl composed the well-known tune for 'Scarborough Fair', to compare that soaring Dorian melody with the one for 'Four Loom Weaver'. Try it yourselves, it's very instructive."

[It's also been suggested that EMC composed the tune to 'Four Loom Weaver']


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Mr Red
Date: 07 May 15 - 03:32 AM

From the singing of Jimmy Miller - to quote a well known Jimmy Miller?


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: Lighter
Date: 07 May 15 - 09:32 AM

Thanks, Derek and Brian.

I have no access to that article.


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Subject: RE: Scarborough Fair
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 07 May 15 - 11:06 AM

? And Cod Liver Oil ?

I just played the three of them together as a midi and though there is some un/pleasant dissonance(is that the word?) they all fit together pretty well.
PM if you want to hear & don't want to tap it all in.


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