The True Story of “Scarborough Fair” and "The Elfin Knight" - with 30 historical recordings

Other than Christmas carols and nursery rhymes, “Scarborough Fair” is probably the most widely known English folk song in the modern world, owing its popularity to the American folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. This video aims to trace the history of the famous tune, as well as many other variants of its parent ballad "The Elfin Knight" that survived into the era of recorded music. The focus will be on the huge range of historical recordings that exist and the people and places involved. Some parts of the video might move too quickly to absorb the information, but the recordings are probably the most important part.

Many of the featured recordings were taken from the YouTube channel Reynard the Fox, which has collected and uploaded several thousand authentic English language folk songs. I’d urge everyone interested in traditional music to explore and subscribe to Reynard the Fox’s channel. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr-Yww8BJQcRkZVg78euK_g/playlists

0:00 Introduction
0:48 1: The famous melody and its immediate source
4:26 2: Scotland and "The Elfin Knight"
6:55 3: Scarborough and tracing the famous melody
10:53 4: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
19:17 5: Anomalous variants
26:27 6: Summary

Here are Alan Lomax’s recordings of Mark Anderson: http://research.culturalequity.org/get-audio-ix.do?ix=recording&id=2457&idType=performerId&sortBy=abc

Here is a full musical score of the Simon and Garfunkel version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSzSp2StJSk

Here are the traditional recordings used in this video, sorted by nation and surname:

England:
John Hodson: https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Steve-Gardham-Collection/025M-C1009X0009XX-4900V0#
Edward Newitt: https://www.vwml.org/record/VWMLSongIndex/SN18621
Tom Newman: https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S251853
Charlie Potter: https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S436666

Scotland:
Peter Christie: https://www.vwml.org/record/VWMLSongIndex/SN16405
John MacDonald: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoDAEeIjjjk&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=4
Robert Nicol: https://www.vwml.org/record/VWMLSongIndex/SN16158
Stanley Robertson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGEQOkwcmsc&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=8
Alexander Robb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmeQ4RpRaxw&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=10
Alexander Stephens: https://www.vwml.org/record/VWMLSongIndex/SN16116
Margaret Tait: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3s5QD6aKgQ&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=9

Ireland:
Elizabeth Jeffries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD2Uz2TMxgc&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=24
Mary Kate McDonagh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrgJtLXfOZM&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=23
Thomas Moran: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjaNFIodpTM&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=20

Canada:
George Decker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzDbsbmkib8&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=14
Clara Stevens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrKuPjHTcU0&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=28

United States:
Sara Cleveland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2wVe7SW9lM&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=26
Myra Daniels: https://archive.org/details/HHFBC_tapes_D09B
Lily Delorme: https://archive.org/details/HHFBC_tapes_D40B
Annadeene Fraley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNgh0qw6dhw&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=36
Elizabeth Genders: https://archive.org/details/HHFBC_tapes_D46B
Jennie Gray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuy9Ryr521g&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=40
Georgia Ann Griffin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RoxN106zk0&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=31
Allie Long Parker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJrPw8B8hP4&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=33
Belle Luther Richards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dS0btqHovU&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=13
Artus Moser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8klWKpbzHU&list=PLMmwIF5U_-etwXBly69Mfq8WwgaZ8nKpK
Larry Older: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRzavGg_vOY&list=PLBeH5Ub6xpjOQo3vqOaGxSJMZju3iGFqr&index=24
Anna Sandage Underhill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMeHJ8LhFos&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=39
George Vinton Graham: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LS1nAi0W7M&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=38

Here are the non-authentic recordings included in this video:
Simon and Garfunkel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jj4s9I-53g
Martin Carthy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCjUDUshHdQ
Ewan MacColl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9bpUK1Lx0k
Audrey Coppard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eloWdSLM85U&list=PLKBzqk8Gge82b9DszPnbEKNWTJEBYxRNR
Cyril Tawney: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZbgecmlpSI&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO-7E024k89-48DxwZEaXbeA&index=19
Diane Tincher and Margaret Winters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lige2D1UAo

Видео The True Story of “Scarborough Fair” and "The Elfin Knight" - with 30 historical recordings канала The Folk Revival Project