Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 17 hours ago
Impossibilities / A True Lover of Mine / Every Rose Grows Merry in Time / Every Rose Grows Merry and Fine / Rosemary Lane / Rosemary Fair / Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme / Scarborough Fair / Blow, Ye Winds, Blow / The Wind Blows my Plaidie Awa / The Cambric Shirt / The Elfin Knight (Child No. 2) - Sung by Mr. W. R. Lowers of Ivydale, Clay County, West Virginia, USA. Recorded by Prof. Louis Watson Chappell on August 17, 1939.
Link to original recording: https://folkmusic.lib.wvu.edu/catalog/Chappell_30_Lowers_G_CambricShirt
00:00:00 The Cambric Shirt (1939) - W. R. Lowers
00:01:34 The Cambric Shirt (1940) - Mrs. James Conrad
00:03:39 The Cambric Shirt (1940) - Allie Nuzum
00:04:10 The Cambric Shirt (1990) - Annadeene Fraley
Note by Kevin W.:
The curious refrain may have been "Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme" at one point. I remember reading a printed text with that refrain a while ago. The oldest texts (excluding the distinct Scottish "Elfin Knight" form with its "Plaidie awa" refrain) all have a herb/plant refrain. 20th century folklorists were eager to attribute magical properties of protection against evil or of an aphrodisiac to the plants, which is possible, but if that's the case the meaning was lost on generations of singers who accepted it as little more than a bunch of pretty words to carry the tune.
This is the only Child 2 tune I ever heard from a traditional singer that resembles the now famous "Scarborough Fair" tune as collected from Mr. Mark Anderson (1874–1953), a retired lead miner of Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, England, by Ewan MacColl in 1947. The one that was popularised by Simon & Garfunkel in 1966.
Song transcription:
Will you make me a cambric shirt
So they say it is merry in time
Not needle or thread or seamster's work
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Now you've asked me questions three
So they say it is merry in time
And I hope you will answer the same for me
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Will you buy me an acre of land
So they say it is merry in time
Betwixt the salt water and the sea sand
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Will you plough it with a ram's horn
So they say it is merry in time
And plant it all down in one pepper of corn
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Will you reap it with a sickle of leather
So they say it is merry in time
And bind it all up in one peafowl's feather
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Spoken: That's as far as I can go
The Cambric Shirt - Sung by Mrs. James Conrad of Strange Creek, Braxton County, West Virginia, USA. Recorded by Louis Watson Chappell on September 18, 1940.
...cambric shirt
So they say it is merry in time
Without thread or needle or seamster work
And then you will be a true lover of mine
And will you wash it in yonder's well
So they say it is merry in time
Where never sprung water since rain ever fell
And then you will be a true lover of mine
And will you dry it on yonder's thorn
So they say it is merry in time
Where never bore blossom since Adam was born
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Now you've asked me questions three
So they say it is merry in time
I hope you will answer the same for me
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Will you buy me an acre of land
So they say it is merry in time
Betwixt salt water and the sea sand
Then you will be a true lover of mine
And will you plough it with a ram's horn
So they say it is merry in time
And plant it all down in one pepper of corn
And then you will be a true lover of mine
And will you reap it with a sickle of leather
So they say it is merry in time
And bind it all up in one peafowl's feather
And then you will be a true lover of mine
The Cambric Shirt - Sung by Mrs. Alvoretta "Allie" Nuzum Sample (1855–1942) of Coalfax, Marion County, West Virginia, USA. Her maiden name is an Irish form of Newsome. Recorded by Louis Watson Chappell on September 25, 1940.
You go buy me a cambric shirt
Without one stich of needle work
Come-a-keetle-umma-keetle-umma
Tappa-lar-fum-a-lum-a-lay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
Wash it out in an old dry well
Where never a drop of water fell
Come-a-keetle-umma-keetle-umma
Tappa-lar-fum-a-lum-a-lay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
You go buy me an acre of land
Between the sea shore and the sand
Come-a-keetle-umma-keetle-umma
Tappa-lar-fum-a-lum-a-lay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
Impossibilities / A True Lover of Mine / Every Rose Grows Merry in Time / Every Rose Grows Merry and Fine / Rosemary Lane / Rosemary Fair / Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme / Scarborough Fair / Blow, Ye Winds, Blow / The Wind Blows my Plaidie Awa / The Cambric Shirt / The Elfin Knight (Child No. 2) - Sung by Mr. W. R. Lowers of Ivydale, Clay County, West Virginia, USA. Recorded by Prof. Louis Watson Chappell on August 17, 1939.
Link to original recording: https://folkmusic.lib.wvu.edu/catalog/Chappell_30_Lowers_G_CambricShirt
00:00:00 The Cambric Shirt (1939) - W. R. Lowers
00:01:34 The Cambric Shirt (1940) - Mrs. James Conrad
00:03:39 The Cambric Shirt (1940) - Allie Nuzum
00:04:10 The Cambric Shirt (1990) - Annadeene Fraley
Note by Kevin W.:
The curious refrain may have been "Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme" at one point. I remember reading a printed text with that refrain a while ago. The oldest texts (excluding the distinct Scottish "Elfin Knight" form with its "Plaidie awa" refrain) all have a herb/plant refrain. 20th century folklorists were eager to attribute magical properties of protection against evil or of an aphrodisiac to the plants, which is possible, but if that's the case the meaning was lost on generations of singers who accepted it as little more than a bunch of pretty words to carry the tune.
This is the only Child 2 tune I ever heard from a traditional singer that resembles the now famous "Scarborough Fair" tune as collected from Mr. Mark Anderson (1874–1953), a retired lead miner of Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, England, by Ewan MacColl in 1947. The one that was popularised by Simon & Garfunkel in 1966.
Song transcription:
Will you make me a cambric shirt
So they say it is merry in time
Not needle or thread or seamster's work
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Now you've asked me questions three
So they say it is merry in time
And I hope you will answer the same for me
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Will you buy me an acre of land
So they say it is merry in time
Betwixt the salt water and the sea sand
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Will you plough it with a ram's horn
So they say it is merry in time
And plant it all down in one pepper of corn
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Will you reap it with a sickle of leather
So they say it is merry in time
And bind it all up in one peafowl's feather
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Spoken: That's as far as I can go
The Cambric Shirt - Sung by Mrs. James Conrad of Strange Creek, Braxton County, West Virginia, USA. Recorded by Louis Watson Chappell on September 18, 1940.
...cambric shirt
So they say it is merry in time
Without thread or needle or seamster work
And then you will be a true lover of mine
And will you wash it in yonder's well
So they say it is merry in time
Where never sprung water since rain ever fell
And then you will be a true lover of mine
And will you dry it on yonder's thorn
So they say it is merry in time
Where never bore blossom since Adam was born
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Now you've asked me questions three
So they say it is merry in time
I hope you will answer the same for me
And then you will be a true lover of mine
Will you buy me an acre of land
So they say it is merry in time
Betwixt salt water and the sea sand
Then you will be a true lover of mine
And will you plough it with a ram's horn
So they say it is merry in time
And plant it all down in one pepper of corn
And then you will be a true lover of mine
And will you reap it with a sickle of leather
So they say it is merry in time
And bind it all up in one peafowl's feather
And then you will be a true lover of mine
The Cambric Shirt - Sung by Mrs. Alvoretta "Allie" Nuzum Sample (1855–1942) of Coalfax, Marion County, West Virginia, USA. Her maiden name is an Irish form of Newsome. Recorded by Louis Watson Chappell on September 25, 1940.
You go buy me a cambric shirt
Without one stich of needle work
Come-a-keetle-umma-keetle-umma
Tappa-lar-fum-a-lum-a-lay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
Wash it out in an old dry well
Where never a drop of water fell
Come-a-keetle-umma-keetle-umma
Tappa-lar-fum-a-lum-a-lay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
You go buy me an acre of land
Between the sea shore and the sand
Come-a-keetle-umma-keetle-umma
Tappa-lar-fum-a-lum-a-lay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
Catch-you-low-my-nay
