Social Poetry

Senior year we had to take an English class. I had French 4, German 2, Social Poetry and PE. PE was running. It was my favorite thing to do besides ride my bike. I probably did and easy 20 miles a day on my bike. Then the days I ran, I did about three miles a day. Oh the glory days of weighing 107 pounds.

The most interesting class of the year was social poetry. I had already taken english comp, the classics, and creative writing. I didn't want to take a class that would tax me too much senior year, I thought it would be 'cool' to take social poetry. The teacher was a teacher I knew was dating another teacher. They were trying to keep it all really quiet 'cause you just didn't do that back in the 70s. She was a rebel, so of course, I had to take her class. Basically we read album covers, and analyzed the lyrics. It was great. The notebook I made is just about the only thing I kept from high school. That and my BankofAmerica foreign language award. No cash. Just the award.

Because it was the 70s, and we were in deep with Vietnam, a lot of what we read had to do with protest songs of the 60s and 70s. My favorite song we analyzed was Simon and Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair. What I didn't know back then that I know now is that Scarborough Fair is a Celtic ballad written long ago. S&G added the canticle. The canticle was in protest to the Vietnam War. It is sung behind the second, third, and fourth stanzas. Another little known factoid about the song is that Paul Simon was taught this song when he was visiting the British Isles by Martin Carthy. It was not noted in the liners notes, no credit was given by Simon to Carthy. In fact Simon was forced to pay a settlement to Carthy in 1970 for the omission. In 2000 the performed the song together on stage in London and all was forgiven.

The ballad is of ancient origin and was first found printed in a child's book of rhymes in 1673.

Artist: Simon And Garfunkel
Album: Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme

SCARBOROUGH FAIR / CANTICLE (in parentheses)

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
(On the side of a hill in the deep forest green)
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
(Tracing a sparrow on snow-crested ground)
Without no seams nor needlework
(Blankets and bedclothes a child of the mountains)
Then she'll be a true love of mine
(Sleeps unaware of the clarion call)

Tell her to find me an acre of land
(On the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves)
Parsely, sage, rosemary, & thyme
(Washes the grave with silvery tears)
Between the salt water and the sea strand
(A soldier cleans and polishes a gun)
Then she'll be a true love of mine

Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather
(War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions)
Parsely, sage, rosemary & thyme
(Generals order their soldiers to kill)
And to gather it all in a bunch of heather
(And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten)
Then she'll be a true love of mine

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine

From Wikipedia:

"The refrain of "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme", though obscure to modern listeners, is full of symbolism. Parsley, used to this day as a digestive aid, was said to take away the bitterness, and medieval doctors took this in a spiritual sense as well. Sage has been known to symbolize strength for thousands of years. Rosemary represents faithfulness, love and remembrance, and the custom of a bride wearing twigs of rosemary in her hair is still practiced in England and several other European countries today. Thyme symbolizes courage, and at the time this song was written, knights would often wear images of thyme on their shields when they went to combat. The speaker in the song, by mentioning these four herbs, wishes his true love mildness to soothe the bitterness which is between them, strength to stand firm in the time of their being apart from each other, faithfulness to stay with him during this period of loneliness and paradoxically courage to fulfill her impossible tasks and to come back to him by the time she can."

Because of the particular use of herbs in the song and the underlying tones of love, deception, and sometimes impossibility of romance it has intrigued people for years. Gardener's Path, a herbalist site, offers this remedy and suggests making your own bouquet of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme:

"This makes it clear what the disappointed lover means to say by mentioning these herbs. He wishes his true love mildness to soothe the bitterness which is between them, strength to stand firm in the time of their being apart from each other, faithfulness to stay with him during this period of loneliness and paradoxically courage to fulfill her impossible tasks and to come back to him by the time she can."