copyright international music public-domain
Is the Scarborough Fair Melody Really in the Public Domain?
<p>According to Wikimedia Commons:</p>
<p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scarborough-Fair-Melody.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scarborough-Fair-Melody.png</a></p>
<p>the melody to the tune Scarborough Fair (which had been popularized in the 1960s by Simon and Garfunkel) is in the public domain.</p>
<p>Is this claim correct; and if so, can someone today write a new set of lyrics to accompany the basis of the said melody, and publish it?</p>

<p><strong>Yes</strong></p>
<p>Both melody and lyrics source back to the middle ages, as for instance described <a href="https://www.liveabout.com/scarborough-fair-traditional-simon-and-garfunkel-1322515" rel="noreferrer">here</a>. The difficulty could be to make sure you rely your derived work on a variant that is really in the public domain. E.g. if you use notes or lyrics from the Simon &amp; Garfunkel version and derive from there, you might violate their copyright.</p>

<p>Note: The OP's linked tune on Wikimedia is <em>not</em> the Simon &amp; Garfunkel tune. It's nowhere near, totally different melody.</p>
<p>For any traditional song you need to source several versions &amp; derive a history to decide where copyright, if any, rests.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough_Fair_(ballad)#Commercial_recordings" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a> claims that the Simon &amp; Garfunkel version came from Carthy, via a book by Ewan MacColl, The Singing Island (1960), which transcribed a performance by a Durham miner, Mark Anderson (1874-1953) in 1947.</p>
<p>As no recording exists of the Anderson version, this book would be considered the first hard reference of the version that became the Simon &amp; Garfunkel song; and would be your source reference to compare any changes.</p>
<p>The Martin Carthy version bears much closer resemblance to the Simon &amp; Garfunkel than the traditional tune in the question, so this would form a good middle-ground for comparison to the MacColl/Anderson version. This, though, would also give Carthy copyright on the intermediate changes - this gets very complicated.</p>
<p>That would really make Anderson the owner of any copyright <em>of this set of derivative versions only</em> - in the same way Alan Price has copyright to the Animals version of House of the Rising Sun, credited <em>Trad:Arr Price</em> - though as Anderson apparently never did anything further with it, even if contested by his heirs that copyright will expire next year [author's death + 70 years].</p>
<p>I would consider the song itself to be all but public domain, so long as you avoid any of the elements added by Carthy/Simon/Garfunkel.</p>
<p>I have found a hugely comprehensive work-through of the various versions over time [will take quite some time to study thoroughly].<br />
<a href="http://www.justanothertune.com/html/cambricshirt.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;...Tell Her To Make Me A Cambric Shirt&quot;
From The &quot;Elfin Knight&quot; to &quot;Scarborough Fair&quot;</a><br />
From this is would seem that the Wikimedia version is referenced in this as 'Whittingham Fair' From the <em>Newcastle Courant</em>, 1879, which is a century out of copyright.<br />
<em>This reference contains transcriptions of both the Carthy and MacColl variants.</em></p>
<p>To directly answer your question, you are quite at liberty to write completely new lyrics [or even derivative if your source pre-dates Carthy/S&amp;G] so long as the tune you use is also copyright-free.</p>
