Barbara Allen- Drohon (KY) 1917 Sharp MS
[My title. Single stanza with music as Bronson 185, from Sharp MSS., 3708. Notes from Sharp's diary follow,
R. Matteson 2015]
Sharp diary 1917 page 150. Tuesday 22 May 1917 - Berea
A very slow and uninteresting day. The weather is breaking up, storms etc. and it is getting rapidly cooler. I try to get in touch with Prof[essor] Smith & Rayne but it is difficult. The latter comes & sees me for a few minutes in the morning and I return him his MSS. He leaves some more of his collection for me to look through but it contains very little of any value — very largely made up of modern stuff quite worthless. He has a little more discrimination than Smith which is about all there is to be said. In the evening after dinner Droghan comes in & sings me a few more songs. He is a mountain boy but is now only interested in things that contain "great thoughts" and regards the fool songs as something far beneath his intellectual notice!
[Barbara Allen] - Sung by Fitzhugh Droghon, Berea, Ky., May 22, 1917. Sharp MSS., 3708/.
All in the merry month of May,
The green buds they were a swelling
Young William Green on his death-bed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen.