Thursday 29 December 2011

Love Imposes Impossible Tasks

How often have you been given a chore to do which is plainly impossible?

That's the tradition that comes with our English folk song Scarborough Fayre where a former lover is asked to perform a series of impossible tasks which, if they complete, will gain their former love back.

Scarborough Fayre is thought to be derived from a Scottish ballad, "The Elfin Knight" where an elf imposes impossible tasks upon a maid, tasks she must complete to escape him. She replies in turn with a list of her own impossible tasks he must first perform.


From medieval times many variants of the song sprung up until the 19th but only a few are sung today. The 20th century version of Scarborough Fair was sung by Simon & Garfunkel and was famously their lead track in the 1966 album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.  Many listeners encountered it first when it was featured in The Graduate of 1968 starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft.

Here is a demo of Scarborough Fayre with a new arrangement for you all. It's a traditional twist with a few cheeky puns and a modern beat. Enjoy.

Free download available for a limited period from here -> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Khamsina/107924192608021?sk=app_178091127385

Lyrics

Are you going to Scarborough Fayre?
It's a long winding road from here
Remember me to one who lives there
For he was, he was, a true love

Tell him to make me a cambric shirt
No seams or fine needlework
Remember me, or are there too many years?
For he was, he was a true love

Parsley, sage, do you remember me?
Rosemary, thyme has gone by
Parsley, sage, do you remember me?
Rosemary, he was a true love of mine

Love imposes impossible tasks
There's not too much that my heart asks
So are you going to Scarborough Fayre
My love, he was, my love, he was, my love is there

Oh, parsley, sage, do you remember me?
Rosemary, thyme has gone by
Parsley, sage, do you, do you, oh...
Rosemary, he was, he was a true love of mine

Are you going to Scarborough Fayre?
It's a long winding road from here
Remember me to one who lives there
For he was, he was, a true love of mine

Sunday 18 December 2011

Dreaming Ivy's Link to Wales

Dreaming Ivy was inspired by a visit to Baron Hill in Anglesey, an epic mansion half a mile west of Beaumaris. The building, overrun with ivy, moss and weeds, sweeps you into a world full of high society from the past.



Baron Hill was built in the early 17th century during the reign of James 1st and ultimately enlarged into a very grand house. During World War I, death duties soaked up the family fortune and made it impossible for the Williams-Bulkeley family to stay. The house was then used for storage until World War 2, when it was converted into a billet for Polish soldiers. During this time the building was fire damaged and has remained unused since but now stands immersed in dreaming ivy.





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