Barbue Ellen- Tab Ward (NC) 1966 Burton/Manning
[From Folksongs II by Burton and Manning, 1971. Tab Ward (b.1903) was a banjo player and singer from the Beech Mountain NC area.
R. Matteson 2015]
Barbue Ellen- Tab Ward, Oct. 29, 1966, Beech Mountain, NC.
1. It was all in the month of May
When the red rose they were budding;
When a young man on his death bed lay
For the love of Barbue Ellen.
2. Slow-li she put on,
Slow-li she went after him;
When she got there, reply she make:
"Young man, I think you're dyin'. "
3. "Yes, I am sick and very sick,
And death up en me crawlin';
And not no better will I be
As long as your name is Barbue Ellen.
4. He turned his pale face to the wall,
His back he turned upon her;
"Oh, kinsmen, kinsmen, kinsmen all,
Don't slight Barbue Ellen."
5. She hadn't rode three miles out of !own,
She heard the death bell callin'
And ever' one seemed to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbue Ellen."
6. She looked to the east, she looked to the west,
She seen the cold corpse a-comin';
"Go lay him down, go lay him down,
And let me look upon him."
7. The more she looked, the more she wept;
She busted out in cryin':
"Sweet William died for me today,
Tomorrow I will be dyin'."
8. Let one be buried in one churchyard,
And the t'other in the other;
The rose it growed out of one,
And the brier growed out of the other.
9. They growed up high as the old church top,
And the rose wrapped around the brier.