How well do you know Simon&Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair?

Interesting, but I am still trying to resolve what Billy Joe McAllister and Bobbie Gentry threw off the Tallahassee Bridge up on Choctaw Ridge. Not even the song writer and singer, Bobbie Gentry knows. She says it doesn't matter, but it does to inquiring minds.

I am still a fan of straight forward writers and singers like Johnny Paycheck and his hit, "Take this job and shove it." :LOL:
 

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Deya said:
Interesting, but I am still trying to resolve what Billy Joe McAllister and Bobbie Gentry threw off the Tallahassee Bridge up on Choctaw Ridge. Not even the song writer and singer, Bobbie Gentry knows. She says it doesn't matter, but it does to inquiring minds.

Simon and Garfunkel and several others like them, put a lot of hidden meaning in songs that some still love to debate. It was popular in the 1960s to have hidden meaning to songs. I am still a fan of straight forward writers and singers like Johnny Paycheck and his hit, "Take this job and shove it." :LOL:
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I believe Billie Joe and Bobby Gentry threw a stillborn baby off that bridge.
 
Cool. Let's do Bob Dylan next.


You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discovered that
He really wasn't where it's at
 
Marcy Sheiner said:
I believe Billie Joe and Bobby Gentry threw a stillborn baby off that bridge.
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Here is what Bobbie Gentry had to say.

As Gentry told Fred Bronson, ā€œThe song is sort of a study in unconscious cruelty. But everybody seems more concerned with what was thrown off the bridge than they are with the thoughtlessness of the people expressed in the song. What was thrown off the bridge really isnā€™t that important.

Everybody has a different guess about what was thrown off the bridgeā€”flowers, a ring, even a baby. Anyone who hears the song can think what they want, but the real message of the song, if there must be a message, revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. They sit there eating their peas and apple pie and talking, without even realizing that Billie Joeā€™s girlfriend is sitting at the table, a member of their family.ā€
 
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Trade said:
Cool. Let's do Bob Dylan next.


You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discovered that
He really wasn't where it's at
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I find Dylan's story telling easy to understand. He is a genius in my opinion.

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?


You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?


Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

source: Like A Rolling Stone Lyrics by Bob Dylan - Lyrics On Demand
 
Deya said:
I find Dylan's story telling easy to understand. He is a genius in my opinion.

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?


You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?


Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

source: Like A Rolling Stone Lyrics by Bob Dylan - Lyrics On Demand
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I like looking up Songs that have a hidden meaning or Songs that we have the wrong meaning for. For instance "Imagine" John Lennon I believed it to be one of the best songs for world peace I ever heard until about 2018, I realized that may not be what he actually was singing about. So I began looking up songs and their meaning. Turns out my feeling was right about Imagine and it broke my heart in a way. I no longer sing to that song.
 
IrishEyes said:
I like looking up Songs that have a hidden meaning or Songs that we have the wrong meaning for. For instance "Imagine" John Lennon I believed it to be one of the best songs for world peace I ever heard until about 2018, I realized that may not be what he actually was singing about. So I began looking up songs and their meaning. Turns out my feeling was right about Imagine and it broke my heart in a way. I no longer sing to that song.
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Yeah, the Beatles had many songs with hidden meanings. The White Album is a good example. The Beatles, like many other groups, were pushing the limits of what they could get away with. Yellow Submarine had no real substance other than to call Paul a queer. No one was confused what the meaning of, "I Get a Little Help From My Friends," was about. Jimi Hendrix, Purple Haze, was another song that had lightly veiled meaning.
 
Deya said:
Yeah, the Beatles had many songs with hidden meanings. The White Album is a good example. The Beatles, like many other groups, were pushing the limits of what they could get away with. Yellow Submarine had no real substance other than to call Paul a queer. No one was confused what the meaning of, "I Get a Little Help From My Friends," was about. Jimi Hendrix, Purple Haze, was another song that had lightly veiled meaning.
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There are so many used for Proms and Weddings as romantic love songs that were not written with love in mind. Many of those had me laughing as I have been to a few events using all of them. Maybe my son had it right when they were planning their wedding, he wanted "Freebird" as the song to be played as she walked down the aisle :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
That Lady in PA said:
I know it was an old song, but didn't know it was from the 1800s!

Scarborough Fair (ballad) - Wikipedia
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Scarborough Fair refers to a real historical fair held in the town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, which was a famous medieval trading fair from the 14th to the 18th century. The ballad "Scarborough Fair" is an old English folk song, with versions dating back to at least the mid-17th century around 1670. It is believed to have roots in an even older Scottish ballad called "The Elfin Knight" and likely incorporates traditional folk verses that have been sung for centuries, possibly over 600 years. The ballad references the ancient market fair, which was a major international event attracting merchants from across England and Europe.
 

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