Barbry Allen- Isringhouse (AR) 1959 Wolf D
[From the John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection; Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas. Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr.
Wolf recorded hundreds of Ozark folksingers between 1952 and 1963, including Almeda Riddle, Neal Morris, Oscar and Ollie Gilbert, and Jimmy Driftwood.
Several versions of Barbara Allen in the Wolf Collection were recorded in other collections (Parler; Hunter) and won't appear here again.
R. Matteson 2015]
BARBRY ALLEN- Sung by Mrs. Alice Isringhouse. Recorded in Holly Grove, AR 6/15/59. To listen to the original recording
http://web.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/isringhousebarbara1244.html
In Scarlet town where I was born,
There was a fair maid dwelling,
Made every youth cry, "Wellaway,"
And her name was Barbry Allen.
All in the merry month of May,
When green buds, they were swelling,
Sweet William came from a western state,
And he courted Barbry Allen.
He courted her for seven long years;
Still, she said she would not marry,
So William went away with a broken heart,
And now lies sick and dying.
It was in the merry month of June,
When all things, they were blooming,
Sweet William on his deathbed lay
For the love of Barbry Allen.
He wrote a letter on his deathbed.
He wrote it slow but smoothly,
But all she said when she got there
Was, "Young man, I think you're dying."
The death was painted on his face,
And o'er his heart was stealing,
Then hasten away to comfort him
Old lovely Barbry Allen.
So slowly, slowly, she got up,
And slowly, slow came nigh him,
And all she said when she got there
Was, "Young man, I think you're dying."
"Oh, yes, I'm sick, and very sick,
And death on me is dwelling.
I'm no better now than I ever can be
If I can't have Barbry Allen."
"Oh, yes, you're sick and very sick,
And death on you's a-dwelling.
No better, no better, you ever will be,
For you can't have Barbry Allen."
"Oh, don't you remember in yonders town,
In yonders town a-drinking,
You gave a toast to the ladies all around,
But you slighted Barbry Allen."
"Oh, yes, I remember in yonders town,
In yonders town a-drinking,
I gave a toast to the ladies all around,
But my heart to Barbry Allen."
He turned his pale face to the wall,
And he bursted out a-crying,
"I do, I do," to the people all around,
"I do love Barbry Allen."
As she was on her highway home,
The birds, they kept a-singing.
They sing so clear, they seem to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbry Allen."
As she was walking o'er the field,
She heard the death bells ringing,
And every stroke did seem to say,
"Your best of friends a-dying."
She looked to the east, she looked to the west,
She spied his corpse a-coming.
"Lie down, lie down, this corpse of clay,
So I may look upon him."
The more she looked, the more she moaned,
'Til she fell to the ground a-crying,
Saying, "Take me up and carry me home,
For I am now a-dying."
"Oh, Mother--oh, Mother--go make my bed;
Go make it long and narrow.
Sweet William died for pure, pure love,
And I shall die for sorrow."
"Oh, Father--oh, Father--go dig my grave;
Go dig it long and narrow.
Sweet William died for me today;
I'll die for him tomorrow."
She was buried in the old churchyard,
And William 'long beside her.
On William's grave there grew a red rose;
On Barbara's grew a green briar.
They grew and they grew to the tall church wall,
'Til they could not grow any higher,
So they locked and they tied
In a true love's knot.
And the rose grew around the green briar.