Brainbox - Scarborough Fair (Traditional Ballad Of Great Britain)

From '' Brainbox '' Label: Imperial – 5C 054.24082, 5C054.24082 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Country: Netherlands Released: 1969 Tracklist A1 Dark Rose Written-By – Jan Akkerman, Kaz Lux A2 Reason To Believe Written-By – Tim Hardin A3 Baby, What You Want Me To Do Written-By – Jimmy Reed A4 Scarborough Fair Written-By – Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon A5 Summertime (From "Porgy And Bess") Written-By – George Gershwin B1 Sinner's Prayer Written-By – Lowell Fulson B2 Sea Of Delight Written-By – André Reijnen, Jan Akkerman, Kaz Lux, Pierre Van Der Linden Vocals, Percussion – Kaz Lux Guitar, Organ, Vibraphone [Vibes] – Jan Akkerman Flute – Tom Barlage Drums – Pierre Van Der Linden Bass – André Reijnen Design [Sleeve] – Jacques Bontje Engineer – André Hooning Producer – Tim Griek a Universal Music Catalogue release © 2014 Universal International Music B.V. ℗ 1969 Imperial 🎵 [SONG INFO] "Scarborough Fair" is a traditional ballad of Great Britain. The lyrics of "Scarborough Fair" appear to have something in common with an obscure Scottish ballad, The Elfin Knight (Child Ballad No. 2), which has been traced at least as far back as 1670 and may well be earlier. In this ballad, an elf threatens to abduct a young woman to be his lover unless she can perform an impossible task ("For thou must shape a sark to me / Without any cut or heme, quoth he"); she responds with a list of tasks that he must first perform ("I have an aiker of good ley-land / Which lyeth low by yon sea-strand"). The melody is very typical of the middle English period. As the song spread, it was adapted, modified, and rewritten to the point that dozens of versions existed by the end of the 18th century, although only a few are typically sung nowadays. The references to the traditional English fair, "Scarborough Fair" and the refrain "parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme" date to 19th century versions, and the refrain may have been borrowed from the ballad Riddles Wisely Expounded, (Child Ballad No. 1), which has a similar plot. A number of older versions refer to locations other than Scarborough Fair, including Wittingham Fair, Cape Ann, "twixt Berwik and Lyne", etc. Many versions do not mention a place-name, and are often generically titled ("The Lovers' Tasks", "My Father Gave Me an Acre of Land", etc.). Commercial versions The melody was used throughout director Fritz Lang's 1941 film Man Hunt starring Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett and George Sanders. The earliest commercial recording of the ballad was by actor/singers Gordon Heath and Lee Payant, Americans who ran a cafe and nightclub, L'Abbaye, on the Rive Gauche in Paris. They recorded the song on the Elektra album Encores From The Abbaye in 1955. Their version used the melody from Frank Kidson's Collection Of Traditional Tunes, published in 1891, which reported it as being "as sung in Whitby streets twenty or thirty years ago" - that is, in about the 1860s. The song was also included on A. L. Lloyd's 1955 album The English And Scottish Popular Ballads, using Kidson's melody, but the version using the melody later developed by Simon & Garfunkel in "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" was first recorded on a 1956 album, English Folk Songs, by Audrey Coppard. It was included by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger on The Singing Island, and then by Shirley Collins in 1959 on the album False True Lovers. The King's Singers have recorded Scarborough Fair at least twice. The Stone Roses also used the ballad as the basis of their song "Elizabeth My Dear" Scarborough Fair was the main subject throughout episode 8 of Gunslinger Girl (season 2), "A Day in the Life of Claes". In the episode, Claes is shown carrying and reading The Elfin Knight. The ending theme, following the melody and lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel's popularized version, was sung by Aoi Tada. Paul Simon learned the song in London in 1965 from Martin Carthy, who had picked up the tune from the songbook by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. Art Garfunkel then set it in counterpoint with "Canticle", a reworking of Simon's 1963 song "The Side of a Hill" with new, anti-war lyrics. It was the lead track of the 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, and was released as a single after being featured on the soundtrack to The Graduate in 1968. The copyright credited only Simon and Garfunkel as the authors, causing ill-feeling on the part of Carthy, who felt the "traditional" source should have been credited. This rift remained until Simon invited Carthy to duet the song with him at a London concert in 2000. Simon performed this song with The Muppets when he guest starred on The Muppet Show. Prior to Simon's learning the song, Bob Dylan had borrowed the melody and several lines from Carthy's arrangement in creating his song, "Girl from the North Country". 🔗 [LINKS] Available on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3vT4ep... #progrock