Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: folk
Song Meaning of “Scarborough Fair / Canticle” by Simon & Garfunkel
This beloved classic tune by Simon & Garfunkel is a ballad that draws upon traditional English music for its sound and lyrics. The song depicts the story of a man who is looking for his lost love at the Scarborough Fair, a traditional English fair system that began in 1253. The man requests that his former love remember him while she’s at the fair and gives her a series of tasks, such as sewing a shirt without any seams and finding him an acre of land between the sea sand and the sea foam, as his way of proving his love to her.
The song has a bittersweet melancholic tone to it that symbolizes the longing of the man for his lost love. He knows it is almost unattainable to get her back but still hopes against all odds that he will somehow be able to win her back. He naively struggles to convince her to return to him via the tasks he gives her, although it is evident that these tasks are almost impossible to do.
Overall the song serves as an attempt to make sense out of the struggles of love. It paints a picture of a man who is desperate to reunite with his lover but realizes that it is futile and can only hope that his plea will be heard. He sings of how love can be a grandiose thing, yet it can be tricky to navigate and often doesn’t go the way we expect it to. You can hope and wish with all your might, but there is no guarantee of a happy ending.