Barbara Allen- Brooks (WV-NC) 1922 Cox I
[From: Folk-Songs of the South- 1925 by John Harrington Cox. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
16. BONNY BARBARA ALLEN (Child, No. 84)
Twelve variants have been found in West Virginia under various titles. A is a very close reproduction of Child B, stanza for stanza, with an added stanza at the end not found in Child; B, in general, follows Child B, with two stanzas at the beginning not found anywhere in Child; C, D, E, J, agree closely with Child A; the first three stanzas of E are like Child B, the next five, like Child A; the leaving of three rolls of money to Barbara in F indicates some connection with the ballad in Buchan's MS. Cf. Child II, 276, also West Virginia G 3; in H 2 the lover defends himself, an incident not found in Child; for similar stanzas in American texts, see Smith, p. 13; Journal, xix, 286; xix, 287; XXII, 63; Campbell and Sharp, p. 90; Wyman and Brockway, p. 5; McGill, p. 39; Pound, p. 9. In this connection it is interesting to note that one of the American texts makes the lover acknowledge the charge as a just one (Journal, xx, 256).
For American texts, in song-books and in oral circulation, see references in Journal, xxix, 160, Xxx, 317; Xxxv, 343. Add Focus, V, 282; Shoemaker, p. 107; Pound, No. 3; Bulletin, Nos. 6-10; Minish MS.
I. "Barbara Allen." Communicated by Miss Susan Montgomery, Kingwood, Preston County, 1922; obtained from Miss Marion Brooks, formerly of Buckhannon, but now of Alarka, North Carolina, whence the ballad came.
1 In Scarland town where I was bound,
And many fair ladies dwelling,
I chose me one to be my own,
And her name was Barbara Allen.
2 If I was a man and many of a man,
And a man of my own dwelling,
I would write me a letter of my own heart's blood,
And send to Barbara Allen.
3 O yes, I'm a man and a many of a man,
And a man of my own dwelling.
I'll write me a letter of my own heart's blood,
And send to Barbara Allen.
4 The month, the month, the month was May,
The green buds were a-swelling,
And Sweet William on his death bed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen.
5 He sent his servant to the town,
To this young lady's dwelling:
"My master dear has sent me here
For the Lady Barbara Allen."
6 Slowly, slowly rose she up,
And went to where he's lying;
And when she reached him, thus she spoke:
"Young man, I think you're dying."
7 "O yes, I'm sick, and very sick,
And feel very much like dying;
And no better will I ever be,
Till I get Barbara Allen."
8 "O yes, you're sick, and very sick,
And feel very much like dying;
But no better will you ever be,
For you'll not get Barbara Allen."
9 He turned his pale face to the wall;
He turned his back upon them:
"Bedew, [1] bedew, to the friends all round;
Be kind to Barbara Allen."
10 As she rode out from Scarland town,
She heard the death bells ringing;
And as they rung, she thought they sung,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen."
11 Then looked she east, and looked she west,
Till she saw that cold corpse coming.
"O hand me down those corpse of clay,
That I may look upon him."
12 The more she looked, the more she wept,
Till she cried out in sorrow:
"Sweet William died for me to-day,
I'll die for him to-morrow.
13 "O, mother, mother, dig my grave,
And dig it long and narrow;
Sweet William died for me to-day,
I'll die for him to-morrow.
14 Barbara lies in the King's Churchyard,
Sweet William close beside her;
And out of her grave sprang a red, red rose,
And out of his a brier.
15 They grew and grew up the old church tower
Till they could grow no higher;
And there they twined in a true-love knot,
The red rose and the brier.
1. For Adieu.