Scarborough Fair

Written by	Traditional
Date	19th Century

Scarborough Fair was a large and complicated production number in episode 511 of The Muppet Show. Paul Simon sings the melody while playing a lute and strolling through a Renaissance fair, complete with musicians, maypoles, and sheep. Miss Piggy chimes in with the "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" line in each verse; she begins the song in her sweetest voice, but is bellowing by the last verse. Scooter plays a flute. Fozzie Bear wanders by and recites the nursery rhyme "Simple Simon met a pieman." At the end of the number, Link Hogthrob, as the sheriff, arrests Paul for "playing a lute without a license."

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel had a hit with the same 19th-century version of this traditional song set in counterpart to the anti-war "Canticle" that they wrote themselves; it was the title track on their 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. It was featured in the 1967 hit film The Graduate.

ReferencesEdit

In the Sesame Street song "Grow High Grow Low", Ernie wonders where parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme grow.
In the Abby's Flying Fairy School episode "Trolliamsberg", Gonnigan exclaims "Holy parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme!" when he hears Garfunkel the Griffin will be performing.