Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. in Harlem, NYC, on 1 Ma… Read Full Bio ↴Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. in Harlem, NYC, on 1 March 1927; died 25 April 2023) was an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Caribbean-American pop star, he popularized Jamaican mento folk songs which was marketed as Trinbagonian Calypso musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. His breakthrough album Calypso, released in 1956, was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.

Belafonte is perhaps best known for singing the "Banana Boat Song", with its signature lyric "Day-O". Throughout his career, he was an advocate for civil rights and humanitarian causes.

Belafonte won three Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. In 1989, he received the Kennedy Center Honors. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994. In 2014, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy's 6th Annual Governors Awards and in 2022 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category and was the oldest living person to have received the honor.

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Scarborough Fair
Harry Belafonte Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

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

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Without no seams nor needle work

Then she'll be a true love of mine

Tell her to find me an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Between the salt water and the sea strands
Then she'll be a true love of mine

Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And gather it all in a bunch of heather
Then she'll be a true love of mine

Are you going to Scarborough Fair
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Remember me to one who lives there
She once was but a true love, a true love of mine

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of the song Scarborough Fair by Harry Belafonte seem to tell a story of a man who is sending a message to a former love through a messenger. The message is cryptic and involves tasks that the man wants this person to complete. The use of herbs like parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme in the lyrics seems to be tied to medieval folk practices, where each herb has a symbolic value attached to it. The use of these herbs could be interpreted as following: parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme are meant to bring good luck, courage, love, and protection, respectively.

The man in the song asks the messenger to deliver a series of tasks to his former love. He asks her to make him a cambric shirt without any needlework, find him an acre of land between the saltwater and the sea strands, and to reap it all with a sickle made of leather and gather it in a bunch of heather. It is possible that these tasks represent some sort of test of the woman's love for him.

In the end, the man asks the messenger to remember him to his former love, as she once was a true love of his. The song ends on a melancholic note, suggesting that the man and woman are no longer together, despite their past feelings for each other.

Line by Line Meaning

Are you going to Scarborough Fair
Will you attend the annual fair in Scarborough?

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
A list of ingredients for various tasks.

Remember me to one who lives there
Pass on my greetings to someone who resides there.

She once was a true love of mine
I was in love with her at one time.

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
Request for a cambric shirt to be made.

Without no seams nor needle work
The shirt should have no stitching.

Then she'll be a true love of mine
If she creates this shirt, I will love her.

Tell her to find me an acre of land
Ask her to locate an area of land.

Between the salt water and the sea strands
The land should be close to, but not in the ocean.

Then she'll be a true love of mine
If she locates this land, I will love her.

Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather
Instruct her to harvest the land with a specific tool.

And gather it all in a bunch of heather
The harvested crops should be placed in a bunch of heather.

Then she'll be a true love of mine
If she follows through with this task, I will love her.

Are you going to Scarborough Fair
Reiteration of the initial question about the fair.

Remember me to one who lives there
A repetition of the request to pass on greetings to someone at the fair.

She once was but a true love, a true love of mine
A contemplation on a past love who is now just a memory.

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ARTHUR GARFUNKEL, PAUL SIMON

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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