2007年6月29日 星期五

lyrics and scripts


Scarborough Fair http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough_Fair
Scarborough Fair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional English ballad. This song dates back to late medieval times, when the seaside resort of Scarborough was an important venue for tradesmen from all over England. It was host to a huge forty-five day trading event, starting August 15, which was exceptionally long for a fair in those times. People from all over England, and even some from the continent, came to Scarborough to do their business.
While the fair was ended in the 19th century, the name "Scarborough Fair" is now used for a music festival held every year in Scarborough in late September.
The song is believed to have originated in the 16th or 17th century, and may have been adapted from an older ballad entitled "The Elfin Knight" (Child Ballad No. 2). As bards carried the song from one town to the next it was adapted, modified, and rewritten to the point that dozens of verses exist for the song, although only a few are typically sung.
The song tells the tale of a young man, jilted by his lover, who jokingly tells the listener to ask her to perform for him a series of impossible tasks, such as knitting 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. Often the song is sung as a duet, with the woman then giving her lover a series of equally impossible tasks, promising to give him his seamless shirt once he has finished.