Barbara Ellen- Boone (NC) 1918 Sharp MS
[My title. Eight stanzas with music as Bronson 148, from Sharp MSS., 4689/3268. The first two lines are all that could be remembered from the opening stanzas. Stanza 3 is also corrupt. Notes from Sharp's diary follow,
R. Matteson 2015]
[Barbara Ellen] - Sung by Mrs. Julia Boone, Micaville, Yancey County, N.C., September 25, 1918. Sharp MSS., 4689/3268.
1. In yonders town where I am bound
Where three fair maids were dwelling,
Adieu, adieu to the ladies all around,
And slighted Barbara Ellen.
2. He turned his pale face towards the wall.
He turned his back upon her.
She hopped, she skipped all over the room,
Says: Young man, you're dying.
3. She started on that long road home.
She hadn't got more than one mile from town
Till she heard his death-bell ringing.
She looked to the East and she bowed to the West.
She saw his corpse a-coming.
4. Go lie him down, this corpse of clay
And let me gaze upon him.
The more she gazed, the more she wept,
Till she bursted out a-crying.
5. O mammy, O mammy, go fix my bed,
Fix it long and narrow;
Sweet William died for me today,
I'll die for him tomorrow.
6. Sweet William died on Saturday night,
And Barbara died on Sunday,
The old lady died for the love of them both,
She died on Easter Monday.
7. Go bury Sweet William in the new churchyard,
And Barbara by the side of him.
And out of his grave sprung a blood-red rose
And out of hers a briar.
8 They grew, they grew to the highest of the church,
They could not grow any higher.
The rose it wrapped in a true lover's knot,
The rose it wrapped round the briar.