Barbara Allen- Scoldes (FL) 1950 Morris D
[From Morris- Folksongs of Florida, 1950; version D.
R. Matteson 2015]
BONNY BARBARA ALLEN
(Child, No. 84)
"BARBARA ALLEN." Recorded from the singing of Mrs. L. V. Scoldes, Macclenny.
'Twas in the pleasant month of May,
When the green buds were swelling,
Sweet William on his death-bed lay,
For the love of Barbara Allen.
Th.y sent a servant to the town,
To the place where she was dwelling,
"My master's sick and says go there
If you please, Miss Barbara Allen."
Slowly, slowly, from her chair she rose,
And slowly she went to him,
But all she said when she got there,
Was, "Young man you look like dying."
"O, yes, I'm sick and very sick,
And death is on me dwelling;
No better, no better I'll ever get
Till I get Miss Barbara Allen."
"O Mother, O Mother go make my bed,
Go make it soft and narrow;
Sweet William died for me today,
And I'll die for him tomorrow."
I never got but a mile from town
'Fore I heard death bells a-ringing;
They rang, they rang, they scarcely rang;
They rang for Barbara Allen.
I looked to the east and then to the west,
And saw the pale corpse coming.
I turned around to the ladies all
And wished to the Lord I had him.
They buried Sweet William in the new church yard,
And Barbara Allen by him.
There sprung a white rose on Sweet William's grave,
And a brier on Barbara Allen's.
They grew, they grew to the top of the wall;
They could not grow no higher.
They locked in the top in a true love's knot,
And the rose ran round the brier.