Barb'ry Allen- Barlow (ME) 1942 Flanders F
[From Flanders; Ancient Ballads 1961, notes by Coffin follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
Barbara Allen
(Child 84)
In America, "Barbara Allen" has the widest geographical spread and overall currency of any ballad. It is not quite so popular in Britain, in spite of the well-known comments by Samuel Pepys and Oliver Goldsmith concerning its excellence. Nor are there Western or Northern European analogues, although a Spanish romance treats the same theme (certainly not a unique one) and a Serbian song (see WF VIII, 371); is strikingly similar. The ultimate source of the Anglo-American texts has never been located, nor has James Graeme, the hero of the Scottish tradition, been identified "Barbara Allen" has a tradition in print, on broadsheets in song books, on the stage, that is particularly vigorous across Britain and America. As a result, the plot of the spiteful girl and the unhappy lover is much the same wherever the song is found. Nevertheless, all sorts of minor variations have crept into the texts. The ballad may open in the spring or at Martinmas; the lover's name may be William, James, David, etc., etc.; he may give Barbara gift as he dies; he may curse her; she may curse him; she may blame her parents for the whole mess; and so forth. Frequently, at least in this country, the song ends with a cliche: the "rose and briar" Stanza, the "turtle-dove" Stanza or a warning to "ye virgins all." Detailed discussions of the local texts are given by most editors. The best are in Arthur K. Davis' Traditional Ballads of Virginia (Cambridge, Mass., 1929), 302-4; in C. A. Smith's treatment the song in Musical Quarterly, II, 109; and in W. Roy MacKenzie's Ballads and Sea-Songs from Nova Scotia (Cambridge, Mass., 1928), 35. Coffin, 89-90, also gives a list of interesting variations that have occurred in the American texts. From such discussions one can see that the "rose-briar" ending (Flanders E-G), nor found in child, and the references to the tavern toasts in which Barbara was slighted (most of the Flanders texts) are the characteristic New World traits.
Flanders A-C follow Child A in the Martinmas opening and the hero's name. undoubtedly such texts stem from the Scottish tradition represented in J. S. Locke's Forget-Me-Not Songster, printed in Boston and known all over the Northeast. Flanders D f. are of the child B, a seventeenth-century broadside, type. This is the most widespread form of the song. The basin of blood and the gifts offered by the dying man to Barbara (see Flanders D, F, and G, for example) are not in Child B, though common enough in the northern American regions. As the song has been frequently localized, it is likely that Flanders E, entitled "Mary Alling," recalls some nineteenth-century belle. In a similar way, Flanders O may reflect local events. Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 200, notes a tale told around Newburg, Vermont, about a certain Barbara Allen who was jilted by her lover in favor of a girl he described as an "angel without wings." The Flanders H 1-3 and K 1-2 series offer interesting comparisons for the study of ballad variations and transmission. Flanders J, where the lover points to the basin where he "threw up" his heart's blood, teeters on comedy. And L, mentioning the Christmas Day Kissing, is unique.
Any song as popular as "Barbara Allen" will have many uses. Benjamin A. Botkin, American Play-Party Song (Lincoln, Nebraska, 1837), 58, cites its development as a game song. Coffin, 87-88 (American); Dean-Smith, 51, and Belden, 60-61 (English); and Greig and Keith, 67-70 (Scottish) give one a start on an extensive bibliography of texts from oral tradition. See Kitredge's notes in JAF, XXIX, 160-61, and XXX, 3I7, for song book and broadside references. Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 195-200, includes it.
With the exception of the Smith tune, all of the tunes for Child 84 are related. They can be subdivided as follows: 1) Richards, Degreenia, Reynolds; 2) Barlow; 3) Sullivan, Wilson, Armstrong, Halvosa, Fairbanks (which is also related to the Richards group, see end of line 1); 4) Bush; 5) Merrill; and 6) Braid, which is also close to the Sullivan group, at the beginning. Of the great multitude of related tunes, only a selected few, rather closely related ones are given. Relations are found for groups I and 4 to a greater extent than for the others.
F. Barb'ry Allen. Sung by Steven Barlow of Mars Hill, Maine. M. Olney, Collector; August 30, 1942.
Structure: A B C D (2,2,2,2); Scale: major; Rhythm E; Contour, arc; t.c. B-flat.
It was early in the spring,
Where all things were blooming,
A young man sick on his dead-bed lay,
For the love of Barb'ry Allen.
He sent a message to her home,
The place where she was dwelling;
"There's a message that I send for you,
O dearest Barb'ry Allen."
A-slowly, slowly, she arose,
A-slowly she went to see him,
And when she reached the sick-bed side,
Said, "Young man, you are dying."
"A dying man indeed I am;
A kiss from you will cure me."
"A kiss from me which you'll never have,
If your false heart is breaking.
"Do you remember the other night,
While in your temper of drinking
You drank your ale and your friends and all
In spite of Barb'ry Allen?"
Oh, he turned his pale face to the wall,
He began in saying,
"Adieu, adieu, to my friends and all,
And to my dearest Barb'ry Allen.
"As you stand by my sick-bed side,
You'll see the basin sitting,
It's full of tears and it's all for You,
O dearest Barb'ry Allen.
"As you stand by my sick-bed side,
You'll see the best coat hanging,
Oh, take my watch and chains and my diamond ring,
I'll give them to Barb'ry Allen."
She hasn't gone an hour from town,
She heard the church bell ringing
And in the chime, it seems to say,
"How cruel was Barb'ry Allen."
She hasn't gone an hour from home,
She seen a dead corpse coming,
She begged the crowd for to lay him down
So she could gaze upon him.
"O father, dear, go dig my grave,
Go dig it long and narrow,
For my true love died for me today,
And I'll die for him tomorrow."
So in the churchyard David lay,
And they did lay together,
And in the grave there grew a rose,
And on the rose a briar.