Barbara Allen- White (MS) pre-1936 Hudson I
[From Arthur Palmer Hudson's Folksongs of Mississippi, 1936. Hudson's notes follow. This resembles Child B, Percy's version (Bd). The entire ballad has been reconstructed by adding Hudson A at the bottom of this page.
R. Matteson 2015]
BONNY BARBARA ALLEN
(Child, No. 84)
As is the case in other Southern states the balladry of which has been extensively gleaned, so in Mississippi this is the best known of the traditional English and Scottish ballads. The Mississippi collection made under my direction contains sixteen texts, and the number might easily have been doubled. All these are fairly complete; each has some distinctive feature or features.
Since the number of texts is so large, it is deemed permissible to omit from some of them stanzas practically identical with those given in full length texts and to reproduce only those stanzas of some texts that have interesting or significant variant details.
For other American variants, see Brown, p. 91 Campbell and Sharp, No. 21; Cox, No. 16; Davis, No. 24; Perrow, "Songs and Rhymes from the South, Journal, XXVIII, 144-46 (two texts from Mississippi recovered over twenty years ago); Pound, No. 31 Scarborough, p. 59; Wyman and Brockway, p. 1; Newell, No. 19, who notes that the ballad was once used as a game at evening parties in New England; and Reed Smith, No. 8. Add Mackenzie, p. 100; Barry, No. 19.
I. Barbara Allen. Text given me by Mr. T. D. Clark, Louisville, with this note: "Contributed by Miss Mattie Sue White, Louisville. Miss White knows the words and the tune of this ballad and is perfectly willing to sing it for anyone who desires to hear it." Beginning like A, B, C, and D, above (that is, at a point corresponding to the second stanza of Child's B), it has fourteen stanzas. The eighth, ninth, and tenth stanzas exhibit minor variations:
8 She wasn't but three miles from town
When she heard a swamp bird singing,
And in her ears it seemed to say,
"O cruel Barbara Allen."
9 She wasn't but two miles from town
When she heard a death-bell ringing,
And unto her it seemed to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!"
10 She looked to the east, she looked to the west,
She spied his corpse a-coming.
"I could have saved that poor man's life,"
Said cruel Barbara Allen.
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Barbara Allen- Miss Mattie Sue White, Louisville. Reconstructed with A.
1. While in the merry month of May
The green buds were a-swelling;
A young man on his death bed lay
For loving Barbra Allen.
2. He sent a servant to the town
Wherein she was a-dwelling:
"My master's sick and sends for you
If your name be Barbra Allen."
3. So slowly, slowly she got up,
And slowly went unto him,
And all she said when she gof there:
"Young man, I think you're dying."
4. "Yes, I am sick and low indeed,
And death is *on me dwelling;
No better, no better will I ever be
If I don't get Barbra Allen."
5. "Sir, do you remember the other night
In a gathering over yonder,
You gave your gifts to all around
And slighted Barbra Allen?
6. "Now you are sick and low indeed,
And death is in your dwelling;
No better, no better will you ever be,
For you'll not get Barbra Allen."
7. He turned his pale face to the wall,
While death was creeping o'er him;
He bid adieu to the nations: "You
Be kind to Barbra Allen."
8 She wasn't but three miles from town
When she heard a swamp bird singing,
A.nd in her ears it seemed to say,
"O cruel Barbara Allen."
9 She wasn't but two miles from town
When she heard a death-bell ringing,
And unto her it seemed to sslr
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!"
10 She looked to the east, she looked to the west,
She spied his corpse a-coming.
"I could have saved that poor man's life,"
Said cruel Barbara Allen.
11. The more she looked, the more she sighed,
Till she burst out to crying,
Saying, "Take this lowly corpse away,
For now I am a-dying."
12. Sweet William died on Saturday night,
And Barbra died on Sunday;
Her mother died that they might live,
She died the following Monday.
13. Sweet William was buried in the churchyard,
And Barbra buried by him.
Out of his grave grew a rose vine,
And out of hers a brier.
14. They grew and grew to the steeple top,
Till they could grow no higher;
They lapped and tied in a true-love knot,
The rose around the brier.