This duet for Classical guitar and Steel string acoustic guitar with violins and cellos sprinkled in has echoes of ancient and modern times. The history of the song starts during late medieval times at the seaside resort of Scarborough. It was host to a huge forty-five day trading fair and was an important venue for tradesmen from all over England. People from all over England, and even some from the continent, came to Scarborough to engage in business. The traditional 'Scarborough Fair' no longer exists but a number of low key celebrations take place every September to mark the original event.
The ballad tells the tale of a young man, who tells the listener to ask his former lover to perform for him a series of impossible tasks, such as making him a shirt without a seam and then washing it in a dry well, adding that if she completes these tasks he will take her back. The arrangement made famous by Simon and Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair/Canticle originated in the late 19th century. Paul Simon learned it in 1965 in London from Martin Carthy and 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 title track of the 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, and was released as a single after featuring 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.
