Barbara Allen- Mayo (VA) 1918 Sharp O
[Single stanza From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 1932 Sharp/Karpeles. Notes from the 1932 edition follow. An excerpt from Sharp's diary is given.
R. Matteson 2015]
No. 24. Barbara Allen.
Texts without tunes -.—Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 84. Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, ii, arts. 165 and 166. Ashton's Century of Ballads, p. 173. Miss Burne's Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 543. Garret's Merrie Book of Garlands, vol. ii. A. Williams's Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, pp. 204 and 206. D. Scarborough's On the Trail of Negro Folk Songs, p. 59. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xix. 285 ; xx. 250; xxii. 63 ; xxviii. 144; xxix. 161.
Texts with tunes :—Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, I. 87 and 89. Journal of the Folk-Song Society, 111 and 265; ii. 15 and 80. Kidson's Traditional Tunes, P- 37- Journal of the Irish Folk-Song Society, i. 45. Chappel's Popular Music of the Olden Times, ii. 538. Kidston's Garland of English Folk Songs, p. 74. Joyce's Ancient Irish Music, p. 79. Rimbault's Musical Illustrations of Bishop Percy's Reliques, No. 53. Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, No. 32. Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 22 (also published in English Folk Songs, Selected Edition, i. 20, and One Hundred English Folk-Songs, p. 20). Thomson's Scottish Songs, iii. 29. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, pp. 96 and 523. Reed Smith's South Carolina Ballads, p. 129. W. R. Mackenzie's Ballads and Sea Songs of Nova Scotia, No. 9. Wyman and Brockway's Lonesome Tunes} p. 1. Journal of American Folk-Lore, vi. 132 ; xxii. 74 (tune only); xxxv. 343 ; xxxix. 97 and 211. Musical Quarterly, January 1916, p. 20 (tune only). British Ballads from Maine, p. 195. Davis's
Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 302 and 577. McGill's Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, p. 40. Sandburg's American Songbag, p. 57.
Sharp diary 1918 page 117. Wednesday 24 April 1918 - Afton
Maud not well so stays in bed for breakfast. I go to Greenwood making friends with a Mr Langdon an orchardist. He went with me in the train & discussed English politics. He said Asquith was a notorious drunkard a very weak, superficial person who relied on his power of oratory to win over the mob — a sort of William Jennings Bryan he said! This comes from reading Maxse I discover!1 At Greenwood I went to the school and saw Miss Maxwell (engaged to H. M. Macmanaway!) but couldn’t get any eventually[?] information from her or from her children. But I heard of a Mrs Mayo between Greenwood and Afton and on my way back called on her and got 5 very good tunes. Eat my bread & cheese in a wood and tramped home about 5 or 6 miles calling on several cottages but not getting anything good enough to take down. Got home at 4.30 and had tea with Maud who afterwards got up for the evening meal. I wrote my tunes out in the evening and also some letters to Professor Cox of Morgantown[?], Mrs Callery and Susannah . Weather fine and quite hot in the middle of the day when tramping along a dusty road, but very chilly in the evening when the wind changed round to the east. We may be in for some cold weather again I fear.
O. Barbara Allen. Sung by Mr. CLEAVER MAYO at Greenwood, Va., April 24, 1918
Pentatonic. Mode 3.
One Mon-day morn in the month of May,
When all green buds were swelling,
Sweet William on his death-bed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen.