Barbara Ellen- Ports (OH) pre1939 Eddy B; Bronson 53.
[No date given, most of Eddy's version are much older than the publication date. From Ballads and Songs from Ohio; Eddy, 1939.
R. Matteson 2015]
BONNY BARBARA ALLEN
(Child, No.84)
B. BARBARA ELLEN. Sung by Mrs. Brady Ports, Perryville, Ohio.
1. It was all in the month of June,
When those green buds were swellin',
I courted one to be my own,
If her name be Barb'ra Ellen.
2. I sent a servant to the town
Where she had been dwellin';
"A young man's sick and sent for You,
If your name be Barbara Ellen."
3. Oh, slowly, slowly she got up,
And slowly she went to him,
And slowly drew the curtains down;
"Young man, you look like dyin'.''
a. "Do you remember in Yandles town,
' Where you all was drinkin',
You drank the glass and tossed it around,
And slighted-Barbara Ellen."
5. "Oh, yes, I remember in Yandles town,
Where I was always drinkin',
I drank to the ladies all around,
But my heart was for Barbara Ellen."
6. He turned his pale face to the wall;
"I think now I'm dyin',
But as for all the others, there's only you;
Your name be Barbara Ellen."
7. He was buried in the old church yard,
And she was buried in another;
But out of his grave grew a red rose bush,
And out o{ hers a brier.
8. And there they grew, and there they grew,
Till they could grow no higher,
And then they tied in a lovers' knot,
For his heart was for Barbara Ellen.