Barbara Allen- Young (VT) c1900 Flanders A
[Not traditional, the melody is unknown. My date, it was collected from Young's daughters in 1938. From Flanders; Ancient Ballads, 1966. Notes by Coffin follow. The original source, Edward Orville Young, got his version from a Forget-Me-Not Songster (first published c. 1844) and memorized it. This info that he had the Songster was provided in the notes to Lord Bakeman (Child 53) but suspiciously not given here. The Songster version is similar to Child A (nine stanzas) but has the distinctive 4th stanza which is different.
Edward Orville Young, a railroad conductor, was born June 30, 1846 in Roxbury, VT and died in 1928. His father was Enos K. Young.
R. Matteson 2015]
Barbara Allen
(Child 84)
In America, "Barbara Allen" has the widest geographical spread and overall currency of any ballad. It is not quite so popular in Britain, in spite of the well-known comments by Samuel Pepys and Oliver Goldsmith concerning its excellence. Nor are there Western or Northern European analogues, although a Spanish romance treats the same theme (certainly not a unique one) and a Serbian song (see WF VIII, 371); is strikingly similar. The ultimate source of the Anglo-American texts has never been located, nor has James Graeme, the hero of the Scottish tradition, been identified "Barbara A|len" has a tradition in print, on broadsheets in song books, on the stage, that is particularly vigorous across Britain and America. As a result, the plot of the spiteful girl and the unhappy lover is much the same wherever the song is found. Nevertheless, all sorts of minor variations have crept into the texts. The ballad may open in the spring or at Martinmas; the lover's name may be William, James, David, etc., etc.; he may give Barbara gift as he dies; he may curse her; she may curse him; she may blame her parents for the whole mess; and so forth. Frequently, at least in this country, the song ends with a cliche: the "rose and briar" Stanza, the "turtle-dove" Stanza or a warning to "ye virgins all." Detailed discussions of the local texts are given by most editors. The best are in Arthur K. Davis' Traditional Ballads of Virginia (Cambridge, Mass., 1929), 302-4; in C. A. Smith's treatment the song in Musical Quarterly, II, 109; and in W. Roy MacKenzie's Ballads and Sea-Songs from Nova Scotia (Cambridge, Mass., 1928), 35. Coffin, 89-90, also gives a list of interesting variations that have occurred in the American texts. From such discussions one can see that the "rose-briar" ending (Flanders E-G), nor found in Child, and the references to the tavern toasts in which Barbara was slighted (most of the Flanders texts) are the characteristic New World traits.
Flanders A-C follow Child A in the Martinmas opening and the hero's name. undoubtedly such texts stem from the Scottish tradition represented in J. S. Locke's Forget-Me-Not Songster, printed in Boston and known all over the Northeast. Flanders D f. are of the child B, a seventeenth-century broadside, type. This is the most widespread form of the song. The basin of blood and the gifts offered by the dying man to Barbara (see Flanders D, F, and G, for example) are not in Child B, though common enough in the northern American regions. As the song has been frequently localized, it is likely that Flanders E, entitled "Mary Alling," recalls some nineteenth-century belle. In a similar way, Flanders O may reflect local events. Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 200, notes a tale told around Newburg, Vermont, about a certain Barbara Allen who was jilted by her lover in favor of a girl he described as an "angel without wings." The Flanders H 1-3 and K 1-2 series offer interesting comparisons for the study of ballad variations and transmission. Flanders J, where the lover points to the basin where he "threw up" his heart's blood, teeters on comedy. And L, mentioning the Christmas Day Kissing, is unique.
Any song as popular as "Barbara Allen" will have many uses. Benjamin A. Botkin, American Play-Party Song (Lincoln, Nebraska, 1837), 58, cites its development as a game song. Coffin, 87-88 (American); Dean-Smith, 51, and Belden, 60-61 (English); and Greig and Keith, 67-70 (Scottish) give one a start on an extensive bibliography of texts from oral tradition. See Kitmedge's notes in JAF, XXIX, 160-61, and XXX, 3I7, for song book and broadside references. Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 195-200, includes it.
With the exception of the Smith tune, all of the tunes for Child 84 are related. They can be subdivided as follows: 1) Richards, Degreenia, Reynolds; 2) Barlow; 3) Sullivan, Wilson, Armstrong, Halvosa, Fairbanks (which is also related to the Richards group, see end of line 1); 4) Bush; 5) Merrill; and 6) Braid, which is also close to the Sullivan group, at the beginning. Of the great multitude of related tunes, only a selected few, rather closely related ones are given. Relations are found for groups I and 4 to a greater extent than for the others.
A. Barbara Allen. Mrs. Florence Underhill, with her two sisters, the Misses Young, at Bellows Falls, Vermont, recalled this song, known to their father, Edward O. Young (brother of the late Dr. Ellis of Brookfield, Vermont). Mr. Young had a remarkable memory. His text is close to the version in his Forget-Me-Not Songster, although it was sung from memory. H. H. F., Collector
November 2, 1938.
Barbara Allen
It fell about the Martimas day
When the green leaves were falling
Sir James the Graham in the west country
Fell in love with Barbara Allen.
She was a fair and comely maid
And a maid nigh to his dwelling
Which made him to admire the more
The beauty of Barbara Allen.
"Oh, what's thy name, my bonny maid;
Oh, where hast thou thy dwelling?"
She answered him most modestly,
"My name is Barbara Allen."
"Oh see you not yon seven ships
So bonny as they are sailing?
I'll make you mistress of them all,
My bonny Barbara Allen."
But it fell out upon a day
At the wine as they were drinking,
They tossed their glasses 'round about
And slighted Barbara Allen.
Oh, she has taken it so ill out
That she'd no more look on him
And for all the letters he could send
Still swore she'd never have him.
"Oh, if I had a man, a man,
A man within my dwelling,
That will write a letter with my blood
And carry it to Barbara Allen.
"Desire her to come here with speed,
For I am at the dying,
And speak one word to her true love
For I'll die for Barbara Allen."
His man is off with all his speed
To the place where she is dwelling.
"Here's a letter from my master dear,
Gin ye be Barbara Allen."
When she looked the letter upon
With a loud laughter gi'ed she;
But ere she read the letter through,
The tear blinded her eye.
Oh, slowly, slowly rose she up
And slowly gaed she to him
And slightly drew the curtains by:
"Young man, I think you're dying."
"Oh, I am sick and very sick,
And my heart is at the breaking,
One kiss or two from thy sweet mouth
Would keep me from the dying."
"Oh, mind you not, young man," said she,
"When you sat in the tavern,
Then you made the health go 'round
And slighted Barbara Allen."
And. slowly, slowly rose she up,
And slowly, slowly left him,
And sighing said she could not stay
Since death of life had reft him.
She had not gone a mile from town
Tilt she heard the death bell knelling
And every knell that death bell gave
Was woe to Barbara Allen.
Now when the virgin heard the same,
Sure, she was greatly troubled;
When in the coffin his corpse she viewed
Her sorrows all were doubled.
"What, hast thou died for me?" she cried,
"Let all true lovers shun me,
Too late I may this sadly say,
That death has quite undone me.
"O mother, mother, make my bed,
Oh, make it soft and narrow,
Since my love died for me today
I'll die for him tomorrow."