“I fear young man you’re dying”,
the words she said when e’er she came
“I fear young man you’re dying”
1
“Dying dear? How can that be?
one kiss from you will cure me”
“One kiss from me you’ll never get,
if your very heart was breaking”
“If your very heart was breaking,
one kiss from me you’ll never get
If your very heart was breaking”
2
“Do you remember Saturday night,
when you were in the alehouse?
You drank ale with all fair maids,
and slighted Barb’ry Ellen”
“And slighted Barb’ry Ellen,
you drank ale with all fair maids
And slighted Barb’ry Ellen”
3
“I do remember Saturday night,
when we were in the alehouse
I drank ale to all fair maids,
as a toast to Barb’ry Ellen”
“As a toast to Barb’ry Ellen,
I drank ale to all fair maids
As a toast to Barb’ry Ellen”
4
As she was in her father’s lawn,
she saw a corpse a coming
“Lay down, lay down my true lover’s corpse,
until I gaze upon him”
“Until I gaze upon him, lay down,
lay down my true lover’s corpse
Until I gaze upon him”
5
The more she gazed the more she scoffed,
the more she scorned at him
Until all her friends cried out in shame:
“False hearted Barb’ry Ellen”
“False hearted Barb’ry Ellen”
Until all her friends cried out in shame:
“False hearted Barb’ry Ellen”
6
“Go home dear mother, make my bed down,
oh, make it soft and narrow,
A young man died for me last night,
I’ll die for him tomorrow”
“I’ll die for him tomorrow,
a young man died for me last night,
I’ll die for him tomorrow”
7
Now these couple are dead and gone,
and in one grave together.
One of them died in pure true love,
and the other in grief and sorrow
And the other in grief and sorrow,
one of them died in pure true love
And the other in grief and sorrow
Probably one of the most widespread and popular of the traditional ballads, with versions collected all over the English speaking world.
According to one source, there are over 98 versions of the ballad in the state of Virginia alone. The earliest known mention of the song is in Samuel Pepys’s diary for January 2nd 1666 where he states:
“In perfect pleasure I was to hear Mrs. Knipp sing, an actress, and especially her little Scotch song of Barbary Allen.”
Goldsmith, in an essay published in 1765 writes:
“The music of the finest singer is dissonance to what I felt when an old dairymaid sung me into tears with Johnny Armstrong’s Last Goodbye or The Cruelty of Barbara Allen There are countless versions of Barbara Allen.”
Its origins are somewhere in the British Isles, Scotland and England both claim it.
Versions are found as far afield as Italy and Scandinavia, and, of course, in the United States. It has been collected extensively in Ireland and almost all of the older singers had a version of it.
An interesting theory as to the identity of Barb’ry Ellen comes from Phillips Barry and Fanny Eckstorm the scholarly folksong collectors of Maine in the US who suggested that it was a libel on Barbara Villiers one of King Charles II’s mistresses.
There is neither corroboration nor contradiction of this theory, but, certain pieces of evidence are interesting in suggesting that Scarlet Town the setting of some of the versions was colloquial slang for Reading in Berkshire, where Mrs Villiers received a large house from Charles.
This version comes from Tom Lenihan of Knockbrack, Miltown Malbay Co. Clare, and has not the rose and briar motif that some versions have. Tom was adamant that this properly belonged to Lord Levett alone. In fact the rose and briar motif occur in no less than ten of the Child Ballads.
Folk Leads Publications 2008