Barbara Allen- Merritt (IN) 1935 Brewster B
[From: Brewster; Ballads and Songs of Indiana, 1940. Most of the ballads were collected in 1935 and 1936.
R. Matteson 2012]
15. BARBARA ALLEN (Child, No. 84)
"Barbara Allen" easily ranks first among Indiana ballads in point of number of versions recovered. Fourteen texts have been collected, ranging in length from seventeen stanzas to two. The ballad is known in this state as "Barbara Allen" or "Barbary Allen."
Both the A and B versions of Child are found, and sometimes there are combinations of the two. The hero appears as "Sweet William," "Young William," "Jemmy Groves," "Johnnie Green," and "Willie Green." The "rose-and-brier" ending occurs in eight of the versions.
For American texts, see Barry, No. 22; Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 195; Campbell and Sharp, p. 90; Cox, p. 96; Davis, p. 302 and p. 577; Hudson, No. 13; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 95; Journal, VI, 132; XIX, 286; XX, 256; XXII, 63; XXVI, 352; XXVIII, 144; XXIX, 160,198; XXX, 317; XXXV, 343; XXXIX, 97, 211; XLII, 268, 303; XLVI, 28; XLIX, 207-8; Jones, p. 301; Greenleaf and Mansfield, p. 26; Mackenzie, Ballads, p. 35; Mackenzie, p. 100; McGill, p. 39; Pound, Ballads, p. 7; Sandburg, p. 57; Scarborough, p. 59; Scarborough, Song Catcher, p. 83; Shearin, p. 3; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Smith, pp. 13, 20; Smith, Ballads, p. 129; Thomas, p. 94; Wyman and Brockway, p. 5; Randolph, The Ozarks, pp. 183-85; Smith and Rufty, American Anthology, pp. 30-36; Cambiaire, East Tennessee and Western Virginia Mountain Ballads, pp. 66-6$; Fauset, Folk-Lore from Nova Scotia, p. 113; BFSSNE, X, 23-24 (Maine); PTFLS, X, 146; Neely, Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois, pp. 138-39; Gordon, Folk-Songs of America, p. 69; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 80.
British: Greig, Last Leaves, pp. 67-70; Williams, Folk-Songs of the Upper Thames, pp. 204, 206; JFSS, I, 111, 265; II, 15, 80; Journal of the Irish Folk-Song Society, I, 45
B. "Barbara Allen." Contributed by Miss Dorothy Merritt, of Oakland City, Indiana. Gibson County- March 30, 1935.
1. In Scarlet Town where I was born
There was a fair maid dwelling,
Made every youth cry "wellaway,"
And her name was Barbara Allen.
2. All in the merry month of May
When the green buds were a-swelling,
Sweet William from the Western States
He courted Barbara Allen.
3. It was all in the month of June
When all things they were blooming,
Sweet William on his deathbed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen.
4. He sent his servants to the town
Where Barbara was a-dwelling;
"My master is sick and sends for you
If your name be Barbara Allen.
5. "And death is painted on his face,
And o'er his heart is stealing;
Then hasten away to comfort him,
O lovely Barbara Allen."
6. So slowly, slowly she got up,
And slowly she came nigh him;
And all she said when she got there,
"Young man, I think you're dying."
7. "O yes, I'm sick, and very sick,
And death is on me dwelling;
No better, no better I never can be
If I can't have Barbara Allen."
8. "O you're sick, and very sick,
And death is on you dwelling;
No better, no better you never will be,
For you can't have Barbara Allen.
9. "O don't you remember in yonder town
When you were at the tavern,
You drank a health to the ladies round,
And slighted Barbara Allen?"
10. As she was on her high way home,
The birds they kept a-singing;
They sang so clear they seemed to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!"
11. As she was walking o'er the fields,
She heard the death-bell knelling;
And every stroke did seem to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!"
12. She looked to the east, she looked to the west;
She spied his corpse a-coming:
"Lay down, lay down that corpse of clay
That I may look upon him."
13. The more she looked the more she mourned,
Till she fell to the ground a-crying,
Saying, "Take me up and carry me home,
For I am now a-dying."
14. "O Mother, O Mother, go make my bed;
Go make it long and narrow.
Sweet William died for pure, pure love,
And I shall die for sorrow.
15. "Father, O Father, go dig my grave;
Go dig it long and narrow;
Sweet William died for me today,
I'll die for him tomorrow."
16. She was buried in the old churchyard,
And he was buried a-nigh her;
On William's grave grew a red red rose,
On Barbara's grew a green briar.