Barbara Ellen- Greenough (NS)pre1950 Creighton E; Bronson 38.
[No date given. Fragment of 2 1/2 stanzas from Traditional Songs from Nova Scotia, 1950 Creighton and senior. Most of the versions A-G were collected from the 1930s on and are much older than 1950.
R. Matteson 2015]
"Barbara Ellen" [E] - Sung by Mrs. Dennis Greenough, West Petpeswick, N.S.
O early in the month of May,
The birds were sweetly singing,
A young man on his death bed lay
For the love of Barbara Ellen.
Out of her sprung a red rose bush
And out of his a briar,
Then they grew up to the high church wall
Till they could grow no higher,
And back they returned in a true lover's knot,
Red roses and sweet briar.