Barb'ry Allen- Cox (ME) 1942 Olney- Flanders M
[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.
M. Barb'ry Allen. As sung by Albert Cox of Sherman Mills, Maine. M. Olney, Collector; May 10, 1942
'Twas on the fourteenth day of May,
When all things were a-blooming,
A young man on his death bed lay
In love with Barb'ry Allen.
He sent a boy three miles from town
Unto his lady's dwelling,
Saying, "Uncle dear has sent me here
In the name of Barb'ry Allen."
So slowly she put on her clothes
And so slowly she came unto him,
And all that she said to him was,
"Young man, I fear you're dying!
And are you ill and are you may?
For there's no need of talking,
For you will be none the better of me,"
Says cruel Barb'ry Allen.
"Oh, don't you remember the other night
We were at the bar a-drinking?
You passed your glasses 'round. and around
And you slighted Barb'ry Allen.
And don't you remember the other night
We were at the hall a-dancing?
You held another pretty girl on your knee
And you slighted Barb'ry Allen?"
He turned his face towards the wall
And he turned his back unto her,
Saying, "I bid adieu to all this earth
But it's woe to Barb'ry Allen."
She'd scarcelie gone three miles from town
When she heard the death bell tolling
And as it tolled she heard it roll,
"O cruel Barb'ry Allen."
Oh, she looked east and she looked west
And she saw the corpse a-coming.
She says, "Lie down, you corpse,
While I now gaze upon him.
Oh, cruel be my lot
And cruel be my nature.
I might have saved that young man's life
By trying my endeavor!"
"O mother, dear, go make me a bed,
Go make it long and narrow;
Since my love died for me today,
I will die for him tomorrow.
O mother, dear, go dig me a grave,
Go dig it long and narrow;
Since my love died for me today,
I will die for him tomorrow."