Barbra Allen- Hunter (MO) 1969 Max Hunter D
[From the Max Hunter Collection; Cat. #0688 (MFH #38). I've made minor corrections in spelling and punctuation.
He sings a slightly different melody in the first verse. Verse 6 is a combination of two verses, and should begin, "Yes, I remember. . ."
R. Matteson 2015]
Barbra Allen - As sung by Max Hunter (with guitar accompaniment), Springfield, Missouri on February 9, 1969
Listen: http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0688
VERSE 1
In a Scarlet town where I was born
There was a fair maid dwellin'
Made every youth cry, "Well away,"
For her name was Barbra Allen.
VERSE 2
All in the merry month of May
When green buds they were swellin'
Sweet William on his death bed lay
For the love of Bar-bra Allen
VERSE 3
He sent his servant to the town
To the place where she was dwellin'
Sayin', "Hasten away and come with me
If your name be Barbra Allen."
VERSE 4: So slowly, slowly, she rode up
So slowly she came nigh him
And all she said, when there she came,
"Young man I think your dyin'."
VERSE 5
"O, yes, I'm sick an' very sick
An' death is on me dwellin';
No better, no better, I never will be
If I can't have Barbra Allen."
VERSE 6
"Do you remember in yonder town
When I was at the tavern?
I gave a toast to the ladies all around
But my heart to Barbra Allen."
VERSE 7
"If on your death bed you do lie
What needs this tale, you're tellin'
I cannot keep you from your death
Farewell," said Barbra Allen.
VERSE 8
As she was on her highway home
She spied his corpse a comin';
"Set down, set down, this corpse of clay
That I may look upon him."
VERSE 9
The more she looked, the more she wept
Till she fell to the ground a-cryin'
"O, pick me up and carry me home
For now I am a dyin'."
VERSE 10
"O Father, O Father, go dig my grave
Go dig it long and narrow
Sweet William died for me today
I'll die for him tomorrow."
VERSE 11
Upon her grave there grew a red rose
On Williams grave grew a brier
They twined and they twined in a true lover's knot
An' the rose grew 'round the brier.