Barb'ra Allen- Horton Barker (VA) 1941 Abrams REC
[From a recording in the Abrams Collection, Barbara Allen as sung by Horton Barker. When Barker's version was recorded by Burton/Manning in 1966, an additional opening stanza was sung. The whole ballad was not sung, possibly he did not know it.
William Amos “Doc” Abrams (1905-1991), originally from Pinetops in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, was chairman of the English Department at Appalachian State Teacher’s College (ASTC) from 1932 to 1946. The W. Amos Abrams Folksong Collection, presented online as part of the Documenting Appalachia digital initiative, consists of approximately 1,100 document pages that comprise some 400 individual song titles, most of which have multiple variants.
R. Matteson 2015]
Barb'ra Allen- Horton Barker (excerpt) August 18, 1941
Listen: http://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/12233bf852c8e53798c4b426bac59ac2.mp3
[In Scarlet Town where I was born,
There lived a fair maid dwellin',
Made every youth cry, "Well-a-way,"
Her name was Barb'ra Allen.][1]
Was in the merry month of May,
When all things were a-blooming
sweet William on his death bed lay,
For the love of Barb'ra Allen
He sent his servant to the town
To the town where she was dwellin'
My master say to send for you
If you name be Barbra Allen
So slowly, slowly she rose up,
And slowly came a-nigh him,
She drew the curtain from above
"Young man I think you're dying.
[except for one more stanza- remaining stanzas missing)
1. This stanza from Burton/Manning in 1966.