Barbara Allen- (NC) c1927 Blaylock / Brown B
[From the Brown Collection; Volume 2, 1952; with music in Part 4 added to Part 2. There are also several additional texts in Part 4. The Brown editors' notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
27. Bonny Barbara Allan (Child 84)
Of all the ballads in the Child collection this is easily the most widely known and sung, both in the old country and in America. Scarcely a single regional gathering of ballads but has it, and it has been published in unnumbered popular songbooks. See BSM 60-1. Mrs. Eckstorm in a letter written in 1940 informed me that she and Barry had satisfied themselves, before Barry's death, that as sung by Mrs. Knipp to the delight of Samuel Pepys in 1666 it was not a stage song at all but a libel on Barbara Villiers and her relations with Charles II; but so far as I know the details of their argument have never been published. The numerous texts in the North Carolina collection may conveniently be grouped according to the setting in three divisions: (1) those that begin in the first person of Barbara's lover (or at least of the narrator), (2) those that begin with a springtime setting, and (3) those that begin with an autumnal setting. Of course those in group 1 may also have either the springtime or the autumnal setting. The rose-and-brier ending is likely to be attached to any of the texts. The lover's bequests to Barbara, a feature not infrequent in modern British versions but unusual in America, appears once in the North Carolina texts, in F. The first person of the lover commonly is dropped after the opening stanza, but in F it holds through four stanzas. Not all of the texts are given in full.
B. 'Barbara Allen.' From the John Burch Blaylock Collection. During the years 1927-32 Mr. John Burch Blaylock, of Yanceyville, Caswell county, collected 274 songs from Caswell and adjoining counties. In December 1944 his collection was presented, through the efforts of Dr. W. Amos Abrams, to the North Carolina Folklore Society. From the whole number "about 112" were selected by Professor Hudson and added to the Frank C. Brown Collection. These 112 are referred to here and in later notes as the John Burch Blaylock Collection. — Ed.
1 In Scarlet town, where I was born,
There was a fair maid dwellin'
Made every youth cry 'Well away!'
Her name was Barbara Allen.
All in the merry month of May
When green buds they were swellin',
Sweet William on his deathbed lay
For love of Barbara Allen.
2 And death is printed on his face,
And o'er his heart is stealin';
Then haste away to comfort him,
lovely Barbara Allen.
So slowly, slowly she came up,
And slowly she came nigh him.
And all she said when there she came :
'Young man, I think you're dyin'.'
3 He turned his face unto her straight,
With deadly sorrow sighin':
'O pretty maid, come pity me —
I'm on my deathbed lyin'.'
If on your deathbed you do lie.
What need the tale you're tellin'?
I cannot keep you from your death.
Farewell!' said Barbara Allen.
4 He turned his face unto the wall.
And death was with him dwellin':
'Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all.
Adieu to Barbara Allen.'
As she was walking o'er the field
She heard the bells a-knellin'.
And every stroke did seem to say :
'Unworthy Barbara Allen!'
5 She turned her body round about
And spied the corpse a-comin'.
'Lay down, lay down the corpse,' she said,
'That I may look upon him.'
With scornful eyes she then looked down,
Her cheeks with laughter swellin'.
While all her friends cried out amain:
'Unworthy Barbara Allen!'
6 When he was dead and in his grave
Her heart was struck with sorrow.
'Oh, mother, mother, make my bed.
For I shall die tomorrow.
Hard-hearted creature him to slight
Who loved me all so dearly.
Oh, that I had been kind to him
When he was alive and near me!'
7 She on her deathbed as she lay
Begged to be buried by him,
And sore repented of the day
That she did e'er deny him.
'Farewell,' she said, 'ye virgins all.
And shun the fault I fell in.
Henceforth take warning of the fall
Of cruel Barbara Allen.'