Barbree Allen- Winn (OK) 1958 Parler X
[From Ozark Collection (No. 28); Collected by Billie Lou Ratliff For Mary C. Parler. Reel 267 Item 9.
Good version missing the first tavern stanza, which I've added.
R. Matteson 2015]
BARBREE ALLEN - Sung by Emmett Winn of Westville, Oklahoma on October 25, 1958
In Scarlet Town, where I was born
There was a fair maid dwellin',
Made ever' youth cry ’Well-a-way,’
Her name was Barbree Allen.
It was in the month of May
The green buds they were swellin';
Sweet William came from the western states
And courted Barbree Allen.
It was in the month of June
The roses they were blooming,
Sweet William on his deathbed lay
For the love of Barbree Allen.
He sent his servants to the town
Where Barbree was a-dwellin',
My master is sick and sent for you
Oh, bonnie Barbree Allen.
And death is printed on his face
And o’er his heart is stealin';
Then hasten away to comfort him
Oh, lovely Barbree Allen.
So slowly, slowly she got up
And slowly she came a-nigh him;
And all she said when she was there
"Young man I think you’re a-dyin'.”
Oh yes, I’m sick and very sick
And death is on me dwelling;
No better, no better I never will be
If I can’t have you, Barbree Allen.
Oh yes, you’re sick and very sick
And death is on you dwellin';
No better, no better you never will be
For you can’t have Barbree Allen.
[Do you remember in yonder town[1]
In yonder town a-drinking,
You drank a health to the ladies all around,
But slighted Barbree Allen?]
Oh yes, I remember in yonder town
In yonder town a-drinking,
I drink a health to the ladies all around
But my heart to you, Barbree Allen.
As she was on her highway home
The birds they kept a-singing;
And every note did seem to say
Hard hearted Barbree Allen.
She looked to the East and she looked to the West
She spied the corpse a-coming;
Lay down, lay down that corpse of clay
That I may look upon him.
The more she looked, the more she mourned
Till she fell to the ground crying,
Saying "Take me up and carry me home
For I am now a-dying."
They buried him in the old church yard
And there they buried her a-nigh him,
And on his grave there grew a red rose
And on Barbree's grew a briar.
They grew to the top of the old church wall
Till they could grow no higher,
They wrapped and tied in a lover’s true knot
The rose around the briar.
1. I've added this stanza that the singer forgot.