Barbara Allen- Kent (Miss.) pre-1909 Perrow A
[From: "Songs and Rhymes from the South" JAF. E.C. Perrow was one of the first outstanding song collectors in the US. His "Songs and Rhymes from the South" with 270 texts was published in three parts in three different editions of the Journal of American Folk-Lore.
R. Matteson 2012]
VIII. SONGS OF LOVE
1. BARBARA ALLEN*
A. (From Mississippi; country whites; MS. of Miss Kent; 1909.)
There was a young man who lived in our town.
His given name was William;
He was taken sick, and very sick,
And death was in his dwelling.
It was the merry month of May,
When the green buds were swelling,
Sweet William on his death bed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen.
He sent his servant down in town;
He went into her dwelling:
"My master's sick, and sent for you,
If your name be Barbara Allen."
And slowly, slowly she did rise,
And slowly she went to him.
And all she said when she got there,
"Young man, I think you are dying."
"Oh, yes, I'm sick, I'm very sick,
And death is with me, darling,
I'll die, I'll die, I'll surely die,
If I don't get Barbara Allen."
"Oh, yes, you are sick, and very sick,
And death is in your dwelling;
You'll die, you'll die, you'll surely die,
For you will never get Barbara Allen.
"Remember on last Wednesday night
When we were at a wedding,
You passed your wine to the girls all around
And slighted Barbara Allen."
He turned his pale face to the wall,
He turned his back upon her:
"Adieu, adieu to the friends all around,
And adieu to Barbara Allen!"
She had not got tin (sic) miles from town,
When she heard a swamp bird singing;
And every time the swamp bird sung
Was woe to Barbara Allen.
She had not got three miles from town,
When she heard a death bell ringing.
And in her ear it seemed to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!"
She looked to the east, and she looked to the west,
And she saw his corpse a-coming;
"I could have saved that young man's life
By giving him Barbara Allen!
"O mother, O mother, go make my bed,
Make it of tears and sorrow;
Sweet William died for me to-day,
And I will die for him to-morrow.
"O father, O father, go dig my grave,
Dig it deep and narrow;
Sweet William died of true love's sake,
And I shall die of sorrow."
Sweet William died on Saturday night,
And Barbara died on Sunday;
Her mother died for the love of both
And was buried alone on Monday.
Sweet William was buried in the new churchyard,
And Barbara beside him;
And out of his grave sprang a lily-white rose,
And out of hers a briar.
They ran to the churchyard tower,
And could not grow any higher.
They tied themselves in a true love knot,
And the rose ran around the briar.
* Perhaps the most widely current of all the traditional ballads. Still sung by school children in Kentucky.