US & Canada Versions: 100. Willie O' Winsbury/ John Barbour
[Versions of this ballad are extremely rare in North America except for New England and Newfoundland. In Newfoundland the ballad has had some currency with both Greenleaf and Karpeles collecting multiple versions in the 1920s and early 1930s and Peacock a version in 1959. The Combs version from West Virginia of c.1924 may be of questionable authenticity and the single stanza given by Barry is attached to another ballad, Johnny Scot. Coffin (1950) does not list Karpeles four versions collected at North River in 1929 and 1930. In her diary she titles version C, "Barber (Barbour)" but in her MS she titles them "Lord Thomas of Winesberry" and also "Willie of Winsbury."
The date of Flanders B is likely before 1800 and I'm guesstimating it to be circa 1795. The Delorme version is older than 1877 and goes back through her father's side to Vermont.
R. Matteson 2015]
CONTENTS: (to access individual version click on blue highlighted title below or on the title attached to this page on the left -hand column)
1) Fair Mary- Hoyt (VT) c.1795 Flanders B -- From Flanders, Ancient Ballads, version B, 1963. Miss Alice and, Miss Mary Harvey of Woodstock, Vermont, on a summer's day in 1934, each sat with a little notebook into which, some three years before, they had written words sung by their mother, Mrs. Rebecca S. Harvey, who came to Vermont in 1853. She had, sung these old songs to them in their childhood, many years ago. She had learned them from her grandmother, Mrs. Rebecca Hoyt, who was born about 1780.
2) Johnny Barbour- Delorme (NY) c.1877 Flanders A -- From Flanders, Ancient Ballads, version A, 1963. First printed in Ballads Migrant in New England, Flanders/Olney, 1953. Delorme was born in 1869 and leraned this in her childhood.
3) Young Barbour- Roberts (NL) 1920 Greenleaf A -- One of three versions from Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland- Greenleaf and Mansfield 1933. Sung by Maude Roberts, Sally's Cove, 1920.
4) Johnny Benbow- Williams (WV) c.1924 Combs
Young Barbour- Walsh (NL) 1929 Greenleaf B
John Barbour- Abbott (NL) 1929 Greenleaf C
Young Willie- Snow (NL) 1929 Karpeles B
Fair Willie- Hall (NL) 1929 Karpeles C
It was of a young lady- McCabe(NL) 1929 Karpeles D
Young Barber- Augot (NL) 1930 Karpeles A
Johnny Barbour- Shepard (VT) 1939 Flanders C1
Johnny Barbour- Torp (VT) 1939 Flanders C2
John Barbour- Decker (NL) 1959 Peacock
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[Notes from Flanders, Ancient Ballads, 1963 by Coffin:]
Willie o Winsbury
(Child 100)
"Willie o Winsbury" is to be found once in a while in the New World, but except in Newfoundland it enjoys little currency. Josiah Combs recorded an incomplete text from West Virginia in his Folk-Songs des Etats-Unis (Paris, 1926), 140. and Barry lists a questionable fragment lodged in Child 99 "Johnny Scot." Otherwise, one must go to the Flanders archives or to a book like Elisabeth B. Greenleaf and Grace Mansfield, Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland, (Cambridge, Mass., 1924), 28, for versions. The A and B texts below are somewhat different from the Newfoundland tradition, although the hero is named Barbour in both an English rather than a Scottish trait. Flanders B, where the hero is first down rather than last and where the King's version is unmotivated, is somewhat worn, but Flanders A is a particularly full example. Flanders C1 and C2 are much like Child D from the Percy Papers. Jean-Smith, 117 (English), and Greig and Keith, 75-77 English), give further listings for this ballad.
All three of the tunes for child 100 are related. Analogues in other collections are rare and seem largely confined to Northeast of the continent. For melodic relationship to the entire group, see GN, 28, 30, 32.
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Notes from BRITISH BALLADS FROM MAINE (Barry)
WILLIE O' WINSBURY
(Child 100)
"The story," says Child (II, 377)" of 'Willie o' Winsbury" No. 100, has considerable resemblance to that of "Johnie Scot" but Willie's extreme beauty moves the king, the lady's father, to offer his daughter to him in marriage, without a combat."
No text of "Willie o' Winsbury" has been found in Maine. In the final stanza, however, of Maine B of "Johnny Scot" (Mr. Holt's version) we have an intrusion from Child 100:
She rode on a milk-white steed,
And he rode on a grey,
There's land, enough in fair Scotland,
To ride on a fair summer's day,
To ride on a fair summer's day.
A stanza corresponding to the above is found in Child C, F, and I of "Willie o, Winsbury." No trace of any such stanza is in any one of the twenty texts of"'Johnny Scot" edited by Child. Yet in Greig's text of "Johnny Scot" (Last Leaves, p. 75) we have the concluding stanza:
He's mounted her on a milk-white steed,
Himsel on a dapple grey,
She's got as much land in fair Scotland
Greig's text of "Johnny Scot" belongs to the group which we have here distinguished as Type I A, whur.*i Mr. Holt's text is of Type II C. The absence of the intruded stanza in Child's twenty texts proves that it cannot have attached itself to "Johnny Scot" prior to the split in the tradition of the ballad. we can only guess, then, that it has independently become combined with the two versions of "Johnny Scot" in which it appears.
Combs, in Folk-songs du Midi des Etats-unis, pp. 140-41, has printed a defective text of "Willie o' Winsbury', from West Virginia.
Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
100. WILLIE O WINSBURY
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 224 / BFSSNE, IX, 6 / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 140 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 28.
Local Titles: John Barbour, Young Barbour.
Story Types: A: A girl is observed to be ailing by her father, the King. He suspects correctly that she is with child, although she denies it at first. The king wishes to know the man's rank, and, upon learning the lover is one of his Spanish servingmen or one of his seven sea boys, he orders the lad to be hung. The girl pleads for her lover. The lover, when brought before the King,
so impresses the latter with his physical beauty that he is forgiven and offered gold, land and the girl's hand in marriage. He accepts the girl, but refuses the material wealth as he is rich himself.
Examples: Greenleaf and Mansfield (A, B).
Discussion: The ballad is extremely popular in Newfoundland, but rare in the United States. Barry, Brit Bids Me, 221 found a fragment in his B version of Johnie Scot (99), and there is an incomplete West Virginia text which ends with the girl pleading for her lover. The Vermont (BFSSNE) text is not complete either, and no reason is given for the King's change of heart. Also, the lover is "first down" (instead of being last, as usual).
The American versions follow the Child story. See Child, II, 398.
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Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland- Greenleaf and Mansfield 1933 Notes (Kittredge)
This charming ballad is one of the most popular songs in Newfoundland. It is known and sung by the young people in all parts of the island. The English ballad is evidently the source, as the lover's name is invariably "Barbour" in Newfoundland, and not "Willie," as in most of the Scottish versions (eL Keith, No. 37, "Thomas"). It seems strange that a ballad so popular in Newfoundland should not be sung extensively in North America, but other collectors have not recorded it except for an imperfect text in Combs) pp. 140-141 (West Virginia); d. Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, pp. 224-225.
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English Traditional (Child Ballad #100) arr. by Great Big Sea (Something Beautiful, 2004)
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Well, Anita Best has a lovely version wherein the speech is a bit less flowery than those posted on this website, which I like to think is a result of "oral editing" to get things down to the "brass tacks'.. A few of the differences from what I've seen posted here....
"There was a lady in the west, she was clothed all in green, and she was sitting by her chamber window when she saw the ships sail in [last line is always repeated, and the first and last time around the first measure has 5 beats rather than 4 ."Saw", for example being articulated over two beats. More differences in the verses...'if John Barbour is his name, it's hanged he'll surely be...if you hangs John Barbour, father she cried you will get [get has two beats or foot taps] no good of me....then; "he called down his servants all, by one by two by three, John Barbour was the first he called but the last came down was he [last gets 2 beats]. Then;"He came down, a tripping down, he was clothed all in white"...etc....And the last line, 'If you can give her one guinea, to that I can give three, although they calls me the young Barbour that plows[2 beats] the raging sea.. Hard to describe...hopefully Anita has recorded it on a C.D.