A Dusky Barbara Allen (Bob-ree Allin)- (VA) 1888 African-American
[A Dusky Barbara Allen is an African-American version that was published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 77, Issues 457-562; dated 1888 edited by Henry Mills Alden. No source is given except that the ballad was sung by African-Americans in Virginia (see quote below). There is an incomplete verse in Harper's version- stanza 8 is missing the last two lines. It was corrected in a later publication of the song in "Songs We Used To Sing," August 12, 1912. The correction was made by adding two standard lines:
I cannot keep you from death,
So farewell," said Bob-ree Allin
It was again reprinted by Dorothy Scarborough under the title Bob-ree Allin in her book, On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs (1925) after she was sent a copy by Alphonso Smith. Scarborough, "A Negro version of Barbara Allan, from Virginia, was sent to me by Professor C. Alphonso Smith. I had wondered if the Negroes had failed to appreciate and appropriate this most familiar and beloved of all the ballads, and so I was pleased at this contribution. This is sung in Albemarle, Wythe, and Campbell Counties, Virginia."
It also appears as Reed Smith's Version F "Bobree Allin" in his South Carolina Ballads. The incomplete stanza 8 has been "edited" without comment apparently by adding the last two lines from Stanza 5. The same version appears as Davis's Version C in Traditional Ballads of Virginia. Davis refers to the publication of the song in "Songs We Used To Sing," August 12, 1912.
Since Scarborough, Smith and Davis didn't know about the 1888 Harper's New Monthly Magazine (Volume 77) publication, there is likely an earlier source than Harper's, now unknown- since the 1912 printing referes to specific locations in Virginia- "Albemarle, Wythe, and Campbell Counties."
R. Matteson 2012]
A DUSKY BARBARA ALLEN- Notes from Harper's New Monthly Magazine: Apropos of the ballad "Barbara Allen," which appears elsewhere in this issue, the following version, as sung by the Virginia darkies, is interesting. It is given verbatim et literatim:
In London town, whar I war raised,
Dar war a youth a-dwellin';
He fell in love wid a putty fair maid,
Her name 'twar Bob-ree Allin.
He co'ted her for seven long year;
She saved she would not marry;
Poor Willie went home, and war taking sick,
An' ve'y likely died.
He den sen' out his waitin' boy
Wid a note for Bob-ree Allin.
So close-ah she read, so slow-ah she walked:
"Go tell him I'm a-comin'."
She den step up into his room,
An' stood an' looked upon him.
He stretched to her his pale white hands:
"Oh, won't you tell me howd'ye?
"Have you forgot de udder day,
When we war in de pawlor,
You drank your health to de gals aroun'.
And slighted Bob'ree Allin?"
"Oh no! oh no! my dear young miss;
I think you is mistaking;
Ef I drank my healt' to de gals aroun',
'Twar love for Bob-ree Allin.
"An' now I'm sick, an' ve'y sick,
An' on my death-bed lyin'.
One kiss or two fum you, my dear,
Would take away dis dyin'."
"Dat kiss or two you will not git,
Not ef your heart was breakin'."
[I cannot keep you from death,
So farewell," said Bob-ree Allin.]*
He tu'n his pale face to de wall,
An' den began er cryin';
An' every tear he shed appeared
Hard-a-hearted Bob-ree Allin.
She walked across de fiel's nex' day,
An' heerd de birds a-singin',
An' every note it seem to say,
Hard-a-hearted Bob-ree Allin.
She war walkin' 'cross de fiel' nex' day,
An' spied his pale corpse comin'.
"Oh, lay him down upon de groun',
An' let me look upon him."
As she war walkin' down de street
She heerd de death-bells ringin',
An' every tone dey seem to say,
"Hard-a-hearted Bob-ree Allin!''
"Oh, fader, fader, dig-a my grave,
An' dig it long an' narrow:
My true-love he have died to-day,
An' I must die to-morrow.
"Oh, mudder, mudder, make-a my s'roud.
An' make it long an' narrow;
Sweet Willie's died for de love of me,
An' I must die to-morrow."
Sweet Willie war buried in de new chu'ch-yard,
An' Bob-ree Allin beside him.
Outen his grave sprang a putty red rose,
An' Bob-ree Allin's a brier.
Dey grew as high as de steeple top,
An' couldn't grow no higher,
An' den dey tied a true-love knot,
De sweet rose roun' de brier.
* missing two lines from a reprint by Scarborough in 1925 Her source is Alphonso Smith who got it from "Songs We Used To Sing," August 12, 1912.