Barbara Allen- Nathan Hicks (NC) 1939 Brown 4A2
[Partial text given with music. From the Brown Collection; Volume 4, 1957. The Brown editors' notes follow.
Unfortunately, a complete version was not collected from Nathan and Rena Hicks, nor Frank Proffitt, who sang the same text (see his partial text) for the first stanza. Neither my grandfather, Maurice Matteson nor Frank Warner got it from Nathan and Thomas Burton didn't get it from Rena. I can only assume that since Sutton's words: "I have yet to find," she says, "a mountain singer who didn't know 'Barbary Allen' " kept collectors from the commonplace.
Despite not getting a full text from Nathan, his version appears to be one of the two sung by Lena Harmon, at least it compares textually(Nathan used the George Collins melody). A different older Hicks/Harmon version begins;
Way down south where I come from,
That's where I got my learning [etc.]
A complete version was taken from both Sam Harmon's wife (Cades Cove, TN formerly from Beech Mountain, NC) and daughter(Cade's Cove, TN to Varnel, GA). Lena Harmon also knew the older version and gave part of it to Thomas Burton (More Ballad Folks).
Roby Monroe Hicks and Buna Hicks also had a version that was collected by Burton in more Ballad Folks. The text also begin: "In Scarlet Town where I was born."
R. Matteson 2015]
27. Bonny Barbara Allan (Child 84)
Of all the ballads in the Child collection this is easily the most widely known and sung, both in the old country and in America. Scarcely a single regional gathering of ballads but has it, and it has been published in unnumbered popular songbooks. See BSM 60-1. Mrs. Eckstorm in a letter written in 1940 informed me that she and Barry had satisfied themselves, before Barry's death, that as sung by Mrs. Knipp to the delight of Samuel Pepys in 1666 it was not a stage song at all but a libel on Barbara Villiers and her relations with Charles II; but so far as I know the details of their argument have never been published. The numerous texts in the North Carolina collection may conveniently be grouped according to the setting in three divisions: (1) those that begin in the first person of Barbara's lover (or at least of the narrator), (2) those that begin with a springtime setting, and (3) those that begin with an autumnal setting. Of course those in group 1 may also have either the springtime or the autumnal setting. The rose-and-brier ending is likely to be attached to any of the texts. The lover's bequests to Barbara, a feature not infrequent in modern British versions but unusual in America, appears once in the North Carolina texts, in F. The first person of the lover commonly is dropped after the opening stanza, but in F it holds through four stanzas. Not all of the texts are given in full.
A(2) 'Barbara Allen.' Sung by Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Hicks, with dulcimer. Recorded at Matney, Watauga county, July 28, 1939. This version makes use of the basic 'George Collins' tune.
Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: a. Structure: abac (2,2,2,2) = aa1(4,4).
Barbara Allen (Child 84) - sung by Lena Harmon and Hattie Presnell on March 21, 1969.
1. In Scarlet town where I was born,
There was a fair maid dwellin'
Made every youth cry "Well a-way,"
Her name was Barbara Allen.
2. All in the merry months of May,
When the green buds they were swellin',
Sweet William came from the western states,
And courted Barbara Allen.
3. Then in the lovely month of June,
When all things they were bloomin',
Sweet William on his deathbed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen.
4. He sent his servant to the town
Where Barbara was a-dwellin';
"My master's sick, and he sends for you
If your name be Barbara Allen."
5. "For death is printed on his face
And o'er his heart is stealing;
Oh, come away to comfort him,
Oh, lovely Barbara Allen."
6. So slow, so slowly she got up,
And slowly she came nigh him;
And all she said when she got there,
"Young man, I think you're dyin'."
7. "Oh, Yes, I'm sick and very sick,
And death is on me dwellin';
No better, no better I lever will be
If I can't have Barbara Allen."
8. "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 Barbara Allen."
9. "Oh, don't you remember in yonders town,
In yonders tavern a-drinkin'?
You drank a health to the ladies around
And slighted Barbara Allen."
10. "Oh, yes, I remember in yonders town,
In yonders tavern a-drinkin';
I drank a health to the ladies around,
MY heart to Barbara Allen."
11. He turned his face unto the wail;
He turned his back upon her,
"Adieu, adieu to all my friends;
Be kind to Barbara Allen."
12. As she was walkin' through the field,
She beard the bells a-ringin';
They rang so loud they seemed to say,
"Unworthy Barbara Allen."
13. As she was walkin' through the town,
She heard the birds a-singin';
They rang so clear they seemed to say,
"Hardhearted Barbara Allen."
14. She looked to the east, she looked to the west;
She saw the corpse a-comin',
"Lay down, lay down the corpse," she said,
"That I may look upon him."
15. The more she looked, the more she moaned;
She fell on the ground a-cryin',
"Oh, pick me up and carry me home
For I feel like I am dying."
16. "Oh, Mother, oh, Mother, go make my bed;
Go make it long and narrow.
Sweet William died for me today;
I'll die for him tomorrow."
17. "Oh, Father, oh, Father, go dig my grave;
Go dig it long and narrow."
Sweet William died for true, true love,
And I will die from sorrow."
18. They buried her in the old churchyard,
And he was buried nigh her.
On William's grave grew a red, red rose;
On Barbara's grew a green briar.
19. They grew to the top of the old church wall;
They could not grow any higher.
They linked and twined in a true love's knot,
And the rose grew around the brier.