Barbara Allen- (NC) c.1925 Greer Collection
[My date. No informant named. From a 3 page handwritten MS in the Greer Collection, titled “Bonny Barbara Allan, Lyric Variant 01.”
R. Matteson 2015]
Barbara Allen
One Monday morning early in May
Just as the leaves were budding,
Sweet William he was taken sick
Love sick for Barbara Allen.
He wrote a letter to the town,
The town where she was dwelling,
"Arise, arise at my earliest call,
If your name is Barbara Allen.
Slowly, slowly she arose,
And slowly she went to him,
The very first words she said were these,
"Young man I think you're dying."
"I'm low, I'm low," he said
"And death is in my dwelling,
Nor will I ever better be,
Till I claim Barbara Allen."
"Oh don't you remember in your town,
When the soldiers they were marching,
You drank your health to the ladies 'round,
And you slighted Barbara Allen."
He turned his pale face to the wall,
She turned he back upon him,
"Adieu, adieu, to all around,
Farewell to Barbara Allen."
She looked to the east, she looked to the west,
And saw the hearse a-coming,
She cried, "Lay down this dear young man,
That I may look upon him."
The more she looked, the more she wept,
She wept the tears of sorrow,
"He died for me for love today,
I'll die for him tomorrow."
So they took him to the new church yard,
In the new church yard they laid him,
They laid his true love by his side,
And her name was Barbara Allen.
Out of one grave there grew a rose,
Out of the other grew a briar,
They met and tied in a true-love knot,
Such as true lovers always admire.