The haunting beauty of “Scarborough Fair / Canticle” lies not only in its melody, but in the mystery of its silence. During the song’s emotional peak, only Art Garfunkel’s voice rises. Paul Simon is completely silent. That absence wasn’t artistic design—it was deeply personal.
A missing voice that raised many questions
“Tell her to make me a cambric shirt…”
In the 1966 recording, during the song’s emotional climax, Paul Simon’s voice vanishes. He neither harmonizes nor sings lead—an unusual move. It was long believed to be an artistic choice until a sound engineer revealed in a 1993 interview:
“Paul stopped during the first take. He bowed his head and stayed silent. No one dared to ask why.”
An unhealed childhood wound
The pain of being left behind
According to Paul Simon’s biography, his father—a jazz musician—was often away, leaving Paul feeling abandoned. The lyrics, filled with impossible tasks like “wash it in yonder dry well”, felt too much like a plea to someone who had left. That emotional weight brought him back to his lonely childhood—and he couldn’t go on.
Years later, Paul shared in a rare interview:
“I never thought I’d let silence speak for me, but sometimes, that’s all I had.”
The silence that made it eternal
It was that very silence during the climax that made “Scarborough Fair” unforgettable. It wasn’t perfect—but it was real. And perhaps, because the truth was too painful to sing, the song continues to echo through time.
▶️ Suggested listening: “Scarborough Fair / Canticle” – and hear that silence as a whispered note from the heart.
Lyrics
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,
(a hill in the deep forest green)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
(tracing of sparrow on snow-crested brown)
Without no seams nor needle work,
(blankets and bedclothes the child of the mountain)
Then she’ll be a true love of mine.
(sleeps unaware of the clarion call)
Tell her to find me an acre of land,
(on the side of a hill a sprinkling of leaves)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
(washes the grave with silvery tears)
Between the salt water and the sea strand,
(a soldier cleans and polishes a gun)
Then she’ll be a true love of mine.
(sleeps unaware of the clarion call)
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather,
(war bellows blazing in scarlet battalions)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
(general order their soldiers to kill)
And gather it all in a bunch of heather,
(and to fight for a cause they’ve long ago forgotten)
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 a true love of mine.