I looked, I honestly did, but couldn’t find the full version absolutely anywhere which led me to do the song myself, however, as soon as someone records a better version, let me know so I can remove my croaky offering, cheers. My version is okay and I noticed my Devonshire accent escaping occasionally over my London drone.
This is for my old maths and music teacher – Mr Roberts, sadly killed in a ferry accident in the 1980’s. He taught at Derby Middle School in West Germany where myself and many other happy children attended a combined forces education facility. There were problems but generally it was a great school with fantastic teachers. He was an amazing teacher but I could not get the canticle part of this song…it bugs me. I digress…
All ten verses are here, original as I can find them. You will notice some changes from the successful version made by Simon and Garfunkel in the 1970’s popular music scene but I reckon you’ll love the original. Please let me know what you think in the comments or by contact. I did a video with the words so one can sing along underneath,
Scarborough Fayre
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
For once she was a true lover of mine
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Without a seam or needlework
Then 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 or rain ever fell
Then she shall be a true lover of mine
Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born
Then she shall be a true lover of mine
Now he has asked me questions three
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
I hope he’ll answer as many for me
Before he shall be a true lover of mine
Tell him to buy me an acre of land
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Between the salt water and the sea sand
Then he shall be a true lover of mine
Tell him to plough it with a ram’s horn
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
And sow it all over with one pepper corn
And he shall be a true lover of mine
Tell him to sheer’t with a sickle of leather
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
And bind it up with a peacock feather
And he shall be a true lover of mine
Tell him to thrash it on yonder wall
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
And never let one corn of it fall
Then he shall be a true lover of mine
When he has done and finished his work
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Oh tell him to come and he’ll have his shirt
And he shall be a true lover of mine.
**then repeat the last line or just finish….
Below is how it sounds being sung by me…it’s copyright free. Paul Simon took this song and made it his but he does not own the copyright. No one owns copyright on Traditional British Songs…they are our culture. Anyone can perform them.
As you can see it is not about two lovers…it is an unsuccessful attempt.
There is a canticle to this song too…it slides in on certain lines FOR A REASON…I’m unable to sing the canticle at the same time of the main song as they occupy the same space in time but I’m looking at some software which would allow me to do this at home – even more reason for someone with sweeter vocals to take the reigns…
The canticle is written like this…
On the side of a hill in the deep forest green
Tracing a sparrow on snow crested ground
Blankets and bedclothes the child of the mountains
Sleeps unaware of the clarion call.
On the side of a hill a sprinkling of leaves
Washes the graves with silvery tears ( I feel there is a word or two missing from this line…)
A soldier cleans and polishes a gun (these next four lines are dubious and don’t fit the flow, I cannot find original yet)
War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions
Generals order their soldiers to kill
And to fight for a cause they will long ago have forgotten (- this line feels right, but doesn’t flow from the previous)
So, I feel the canticle was extended by Simon and Garfunkel. I could be wrong but the first six lines of the canticle say it all, without the following four…I think they just wanted to make ten lines to attempt to make an enchanting song over an already spellbinding song that they butchered and lost the meaning to.
Simon and Garfunkel even missed the chance to remedy the situation in the extended version of Scarborough Fair, at over ten minutes long, but they did not include all ten original verses and changed words and lines. However, without them actually performing the song it may have been forgotten to time, who knows? So, I thank them.
As you can see there are a lot of signs and symbols within the song of Scarborough Fayre/Fair with nod to other icons in our ancient history. It is important to understand the small changes and hold on to the original value.
This song is full of female empowerment. It tells this man, this chancer, that as he is looking for a free ride, he can bugger off but in nice way. He is looking for something for nothing and she is telling him no chance.
The sparrow is a very complicated icon, seen on the Pyramids but rarely taken much notice of. It is a native british bird, currently under major threat of demise in England over the last few decades with numbers increasing a little last year but no where near the figures of birds we used to have.
There is mention of the Holly tree… and more and I could go on and on but I mainly wanted to sing the full version for your entertainment, I hope you enjoyed the song’s clever banter, as that is what being a Brit is all about.
For those interested I spend my time attempting to write books. I have it all planned out in my head and in numerous places around the house etc. Three books are planned which form a series. This is the plan which helps me look to the future.
To be fair, it’s hard to focus and I’m easily distracted as a change of scene helps deal with physical issues so I tend to go with the flow. Recently I have had a breast cancer scare and although thankfully nothing sinister is going on, the whole affair made me realise I’m always living life on the edge in an emotionally sense.
Often I am reading about climate change and how it is about to end the world (which could be happening) alongside rubbish like the gas we breathe out (CO2) is bad for the environment (which is stupid).
I wonder if these two are somehow related. Reading about some religious folk telling me how fantastic their religion is and I read about the awful things their religion does…related because religious folk also talk about the end of the world, and how they will be saved from the destruction.
Generally these religions lie when they say they are peaceful…they are peaceful in the location they are collecting monies in but further field a certain doctrine is used until fear takes over in rational minds and are people are subdued.
I’m told having a scientific mind and not believing in god is evil. Laugh my fucking butt off and roll it across the carpet. Perhaps it is because I have faith in humans I can live with myself.
My belief is that religion is a cult of heathens tied to our distance past who just wont let go of ancient ways because of money. I’m profiled by religious doctors and by a society which can not handle the truth about itself. Or worse, paints it’s fellow man with the same desires and ambitions.
From my home I can see the Seventh Day Evangelists headquarters, a Islamic mosque, the Mirror Print facility and a skip yard. I often wonder which ones spills out the most rubbish in a day.? The skip yard is filthy…but you can see the dirt. It becomes recycled material which has some use to our society.
The Mirror Print facility not only prints my favourite paper, The Mirror, but also all the other major newspapers, such as the Telegraph, Independent, The Sun and The Guardian as it is expensive to do print runs and it is the largest facility left.
Life is full of hypocrisy and bullshit. Five words kept drilling me over and over so in the end I grabbed my guitar. This song came about from the ether. My current coping mechanism appears to be writing simple songs which are a joy to play perhaps not so on the ear but a joy to play and sing none the less!!!
video of song is at the end
Enjoy.
Don’t Go Messing With Me
Song D Am Am G
Intro D
(chorus)
Don’t go messing with me now, don’t go messing with me
Don’t go messing with me now, don’t go messing with me
I long to be free, I long to be me
Don’t be messing with me now don’t be messing with me
I wanna know, where flowers grow
The bird and bees, and bunches of trees
I wanna know, where do you go?
When you are not being thee, where do you be?
Chorus
I may look weak, turn the other cheek
It’s not apathy. I drink lots of tea
I stay calm and carry on
Cos you ain’t getting to me, don’t be messing with me
Chorus
Repeat chorus to fade.
Thanks for reading/listening. Comments always welcome.
unextraordinarybint Samantha Harris in London, England. 