Barbry Allen- Hartsell (TN) 1965 Burton/Manning
[From Folklore: Folksongs I by Burton and Manning, 1967.
R. Matteson 2015]
BARBRY ALLEN (Child 84)- Sung by Mrs. Lura Jayne Hartser, April 1965. collected by George Conway.
scale: hexatonic Ib; range: octave + M3
In Charlotte's town where I was born,
There was a fair maid dwellin':
And every youth, they seemed to say,
That her named was Barbry Allen,
That her name was Barbry Allen.
As I went trippling through the room
I heard some birds a-singing;
And every bird did seem to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbry Allen,
Hard-hearted Barbry Allen."
3. As I went trippling through the room
they was some bells a-ringing;
And every bell did seem to toll,
"Hard-hearted Barbry Allen,
Hard-hearted Barbry Allen."
4. "Oh Mother, oh Mother, go make my bed,
make it both long and narrow;
Sweet William's died for me today,
I'll die for him tomorrow.
5. "Oh Father, oh father, go gig my grave,
Dig it both long and narrow;
Sweet William's died for me today,
I'll die for him tomorrow."
6 So [Willie][1] was buried in the upper church yard,
[and Barbry Allen in the lower]
Up sprung a rose from Willie's grave,
And a brier from Barbry Allen's,
And a brier from Barbry Allen's.
7. They grew and grew to the green church top,
And they could not climb any higher:
They twisted and tied in a truelove's knot
The red rose and the brier,
The red rose and the brier.
1. "So they both" originally