Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Scarborough Fair / The Cambric Shirt / The Elfin Knight (Child No. 2) - Sung by Joan Moser of Swannanoa, North Carolina. Daughter of North Carolina folklorist Artus Monroe Moser. Joan learned the song from her grandmother Cordelia Elizabeth King Moser of Leicester, North Carolina. Recorded at a folk concert in Buncombe County, North Carolina on August 11, 1974.
I used my knowledge on video editing to share the film on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with Berea College and the original creators of the material.
Note by Kevin W.:
One of few traditional texts to have the herb refrain. Most texts recorded in the 20th century have garbled this refrain into various degrees of nonsense or use a variation on "Every Rose grows merry in time" instead.
Song transcription:
Will you make me a cambric shirt
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any needle or seamster's work?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
Will you wash it on yonder's well
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Where there is no water and rain never fell?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
Will you dry it on yonder's thorn
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
That's never bloomed blossom since Adam was born?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
Now you've asked questions three
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
If you can answer as many for me,
Then you shall be a true lover of mine
Will you find an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Betwixt the salt water and the sea sand?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
And will you plow it with a ram's horn
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And sow it and plant it all down in corn?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
Will you reap it with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And haul it home on a peafowl's feather?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
And when you've done and finished your work
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Then come and get your cambric shirt
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
Scarborough Fair / The Cambric Shirt / The Elfin Knight (Child No. 2) - Sung by Joan Moser of Swannanoa, North Carolina. Daughter of North Carolina folklorist Artus Monroe Moser. Joan learned the song from her grandmother Cordelia Elizabeth King Moser of Leicester, North Carolina. Recorded at a folk concert in Buncombe County, North Carolina on August 11, 1974.
I used my knowledge on video editing to share the film on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with Berea College and the original creators of the material.
Note by Kevin W.:
One of few traditional texts to have the herb refrain. Most texts recorded in the 20th century have garbled this refrain into various degrees of nonsense or use a variation on "Every Rose grows merry in time" instead.
Song transcription:
Will you make me a cambric shirt
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any needle or seamster's work?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
Will you wash it on yonder's well
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Where there is no water and rain never fell?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
Will you dry it on yonder's thorn
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
That's never bloomed blossom since Adam was born?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
Now you've asked questions three
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
If you can answer as many for me,
Then you shall be a true lover of mine
Will you find an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Betwixt the salt water and the sea sand?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
And will you plow it with a ram's horn
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And sow it and plant it all down in corn?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
Will you reap it with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And haul it home on a peafowl's feather?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
And when you've done and finished your work
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Then come and get your cambric shirt
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
