Barbry Ellen- Creaser (NH-IR)1939 Flanders I
[From Flanders; Ancient Ballads 1961, notes by Coffin follow. Clearly the date should be at least 80 years older, more research is needed.
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.
I. Barbry Ellen- Mrs. Frank Creaser of Ludlow remembered these words as sung by her mother, Ellen Cunningham Sheahan of County Waterford, Ireland, who lived as a girl in Keene, New Hampshire and later was employed at the Brattleboro Hotel
owned by Jim Fishe. She married and settled in Cacendish, living there to the good old age of 104.
H. H. F., Collector
September 21, 1939
Barbry Ellen
It was in the springtime of the year
When the flowers were all in blossom
A young man from the north countree
. Fell in love with Barbry Ellen;
A young man from the north countree
Fell in love with Barbry Ellen.
This young man was sick, oh, very, very sick,
And was almost a-dying.
He sent his postman all in post haste
And to Barbry Ellen's dwellings.
(Repeat last two lines of each verse)
"Get up, get up," the postman cried,
"My master he is dying.
Get up, get up," the postman cried,
"If you are Barbry Ellen."
Oh, slowly, slowly she got up
And slowly she was coming
And the very first look she gave at him
She said, "Young man, you're dying."
"A dying man I am not yet.
One kiss from you will cure me.
One kiss from you will cure me well
If you are Barbry Ellen."
"One kiss from me you never shall get
If I thought you were a-dying,
For don't you remember last Saturday night
When you were in the alehouse drinking,
You drank a health to each damsel 'round
And slighted Barbry Ellen."
He turned his face unto the wall,
Whilst death was o'er him dwelling,
"Take my gold watch and my gold chain;
Give them to Barbry Ellen."
She went right home to her mama's house
And she saw the dark clouds coming,
"Lay down the corpse, young men," she cried,
"Until I gaze upon him."
They laid down the corpse without allay[1],
In his face she fell a-laughing.
"Oh, fie, Oh, fie," the Young men cried,
"If you are Barbry Ellen."
She went right home to her mama's house
And her heart was full of sorrow,
Saying, "A young man died for me today
And I'll die for him tomorrow."
1. delay