Barbry Ellen- Ritchie (KY) pre-1953 Music & REC
[Reprinted in Bronson 84, No. 142; printed in Singing Family of the Cumberland by Jean Ritchie. Illustrated by Maurice Sendak (New York: Oxford University Press, 1955.); also in "Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians as Sung by Jean Ritchie" by Jean Ritchie.
R. Matteson 2012]
BARBRY ELLEN- As Sung by the Ritchie Family (Jean Ritchie); arrangement 1953; Jean writes: This Ritchie version of "the song everybody knows" is our family adaptation of the tune and text that is found in Knott Co. Kentucky where my father, Balis Ritchie was born and raised and where the first twelve of us were born. We knew at least three other tunes in the family but this was my favorite.
[Listen: Jean Ritchie] The recording is slightly different than the family text (taken by Bronson from Ritchie in 1955)- the first verse is missing and there are other minor changes. This is the archaic melody known in Knott County, for another Knott County version see the Wyman Brockway tune w/music copyrighted in 1916.
In Scarlet town where I was born
There was a fair maid dwellin',
Made every youth cry "well-a-day!"
And her name was Barbry Ellen.
All in the merry month of May
When the green buds they were swellin',
Young William Green on his deathbed lay
for love of Barbry Ellen.
He sent his servant to the town
To her own father's dwellin',
Sayin', "Master's sick and he bids you to come
If your name be Barbry Ellen."
So slowlye, slowlye, she got up
And slowlye she came nigh him,
And all she said when she got there,
"Young man I believe your're dyin'."
"O yes I'm sick and I'm very sick
and I never will be any better,
Until I gain the love of one
The love of Barbry Ellen."
"O yes you're sick and you're very sick
And you never will be any better,
For you never will gain the love of one
The love of Barbry Ellen.
"O don't you remember in yonders town,
In yonders town a-drinkin'?
You drunk the health of the ladies all round
And you lighted Barbry Ellen."
"O yes, I remember in yonders town,
In yonders town a-drinkin';
I have my health to the ladies all round,
But my heart to Barbry Ellen."
He turned his pale face to the wall,
For death was on him dwellin',
"Farewell, farewell, you good neighbors all,
Be kind to Barbry Ellen."
As she was going across the field
She heard the death-bells knellin';
And every stroke they seemed to say,
Hard-hearted Barbry Ellen.
As she was going through the woods
She saw the pale corpse comin';
"Lay down, lay down that corpse of clay
That I may look upon him."
The more she looked, the more she grieved
As last she burst out a-cryin',
"O take him away, O take him away,
For I myself am dyin'."
"O Mother, O Mother, go make my bed,
Go make it both long and narrow,
Sweet William has died for the love of me,
And I shall die of sorrow."
"O Father, O Father, go dig my grave,
Go dig it both long and narrow,
Sweet William has died for me today,
And I'll die for him tomorrow."
O she was buried in the old church-yard,
Sweet William was buried a-nigh her.
And out of his grave sprung a red, red rose,
Out of Barbry's grew a greenbriar.
They grew and they grew up the old church tower
Till they couldn't grow any higher
And there they tied a true-lover's knot
Red rose around the green briar.