Cambric Shirt
A version of the ancient riddling ballad also known as 'Scarborough Fair' (Child Ballad 2). Two lovers test each other with a series of impossible tasks. My version comes from the Maine oral tradition, as sung by Jennie Gray from Eddington. It is distinct from the well-known Simon & Garfunkel arrangement, which I also love. This video was recorded for the Library of Congress Homegrown concert series... in my garlic field!
Lyrics
Say, old girl, are you going to the fair?
Fum a lum a lye fum a lye lo lee
And if you see my true love there,
Timmy hiddle-o a diddle-o, fum a dum a diddle-o
Fum a lum a lye fum a lye lo lee.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
Without a stitch of needle work.
Tell her to wash it in a dry well
Where never a drop of water fell
Tell her to hang it to dry on a thorn
That never had a thorn since Adam was born.
Say, old boy, are you going to the fair?
And if you see my true love there
Tell him to buy me an acre of land
Between salt water and sea sand.
Tell him to plow it with a ram’s horn
And seed it down with a peck of corn.
Tell him to cut it with a peacock’s feather,
And thresh it out with the tail of an adder.
Tell this fool when he’s done with his work
He can come and get his cambric shirt.
Sources
Child Ballad 2 ('The Elfin Knight'). Roud 12. One of the oldest ballads in the English language, with roots in medieval riddle traditions.
- Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-1898), No. 2
- Ewan MacColl, 'Scarborough Fair' from Matching Songs of the British Isles and America (1957)
- Fannie Hardy Eckstorm & Mary Winslow Smyth, Minstrelsy of Maine (1927)
- https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=songstorysamplercollection
Jennie Gray