Iron from Stone

Iron from Stone

Scarborough Faire is an amazing song. Such a wonderful melody and lyric that tells of all of the impossible tasks a human woman would need to achieve to be with a man from Elfland.

But I began to wonder…

These wonderful folk songs have been left us by anonymous writers from years ago and have been sung ever since. But is there another story behind Scarborough Faire? What about that songwriter from years ago? What inspired them to write such a song?

So I thought I would tell that story. Hope you like it!

Iron from Stone

Verse 1

As I rode out one morning,

Just as the day was dawning,

I gave my usual greeting to the Sun.

To seek my inspiration

I knew my destination

A standing stone down where the river runs.

Seeing no one else in sight

I sat down to write

But I was not alone

The Sun a little colder

A hand upon my shoulder

A shadow fell across the ancient stone.

Verse 2

He asked what I was writing

It sounded so inviting

I said I just tell stories with song.

The melody compelling

Said he had a tale worth telling

And promised that it wouldn’t take too long

He never would forget

How his true love he met

At a county faire

Of land by the sea

A Cambric shirt with no seams

And of a life that they would never share.

Verse 3

He thought they’d be together

To live their lives forever

But realised that he would soon be gone

Behind doors that were closing

From the will we were imposing

On the land we depend upon.

Their story will be sung

For many years to come

But we reap what we have sown

Two broken hearts

Two worlds torn apart

From the day we made iron from stone.