The traditional British ballad "Scarborough Fair" is based on the song "The Elfin Knight" from the seventeenth century. The earliest recorded version of "Scarborough Fair" (Traditional) is on the 1955 album "Encores From The Abbaye" sung by Gordon Heath with Lee Payant. L'Abbaye was a Paris cafe operated by the American entertainers.

As the lead track on the 1966 LP "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (Traditional/Simon - Garfunkel) was issued as a single from "The Graduate" soundtrack in 1968. The single peaked at number eleven on Billboard.