I learned a few songs from that collection which I perform to this day, but probably the one that I loved the most out of the bunch was "Barbry Ellen," an Americanized version of "Bonny Barbara Allen" (which I mentioned in my discussion of Child/Roud numbers in my last post). If you're looking for a classic Dead Lover ballad, this has it all. The cliched "merry month of May" (or June, depending on the version), the image of the lovers finally united only in death and, of course, way too many verses. It's also a lovely melody, though I admit when I learned my version I'd never actually heard it out loud, and was relying on my somewhat shaky music-reading skills. Still, I'm pretty fond of it.
In its various forms, Barbara Allen is one of the oldest and most widespread English language ballads. It was first mentioned in the diary of Samuel Pepys in 1666, and the earliest known published version of it dates back to 1690. It was reputed to be a favorite song of George Washington and in the modern day was a staple of the American folk revival, with versions by Simon and Garfunkel, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.
While there are many different versions of the song, the basic story remains the same: William (or Willie, or Johnny or whoever) is desperately in love with Barbara Allen, and is sick with emotion. Barbara for whatever reason, rejects him and he dies of a broken heart. After William is gone, Barbara realizes how horrible she was, and how she really loved him, and soon pines away and dies thereafter. The two are buried side by side and are united at last in death. In some versions, plants grow on their gravestones, a rose from William's and a briar from Barbara's, which grow entwined in a "lovers' knot," symbolizing William's sweetness and Barbara's cruelty joined together in a familiar rose bush (and the idea that roses and thorns go together has been a staple of romantic songs, well, probably as long as there have been roses and romantic songs).
So what's the appeal? It's not gruesome like a good murder ballad, and it doesn't involve any real famous people, but it does contain an extreme version of a very familiar regret. Barbara Allen's pride causes her to reject the one man who would have been her perfect match, and she only realizes how much she really cared for him after he's gone and she's lost her chance. Once she understands what she's done, life doesn't seem worth living, so she dies.
It's worth mentioning, of course, that the characters in these ballads are terrible role models and nobody should actually go around dying over this sort of thing. However, many, if not most, of us have been Sweet William or Hard-Hearted Barby Ellen at some point in our lives, having felt like we were passed over by our perfect match for spurious reasons, or realizing that through our own pride or foolishness we've missed out on a person we could have been happy with only after it's too late to do anything about it. In the real world we mostly get over it and get on with our lives in time, but sometimes the fresh emotional wounds can feel pretty intense.
I think we'll find that this is a common theme with a lot of these songs. Emotional pain and heartbreak can FEEL like it's going to kill you in the real world even if it almost never does, in the world of Dead Lover ballads, it totally will. In these songs our own emotional journeys are played out in a larger and more dramatic fashion, which gives us a bit of catharsis, as well as reassuring us that we're not the only people who feel this way. Also, I suppose, when one has been dumped, it's nice to look at these characters and say, "well, at least I'M not going to die over this and have a damn bush growing out of my chest."
Lyrics to my version:
Barbry Ellen
Child 84, Roud 54
In Scarlet Town where I was born there was a fair maid dwellin’
She made the lads cry “wal a day” and her name was Barbry Ellen
In the merry month of may when the green buds they were swelling
Sweet William on his deathbed lay for the love of Barbry Ellen
He sent a servant to the town to the place where she was dwellin
My master bids you come to him if your name be Barbry Ellen
Slowly, slowly she got up and slowly went she nigh him
And as she drew the curtain back she said “young man, I think you’re dying”
“Oh yes I’m sick, I’m very sick, and ne’er will I get better
Unless I have the of one, the love of Barbry Ellen”
She said, “Do ye ken how in yonder town, in the place where you were dwellin’
You gave a health to the ladies ‘round, but you slighted Barbry Ellen?”
“Oh yes I ken, I ken it well, in the place where I was dwellin,
I gave a health to the ladies ‘round, but my heart to Barbry Ellen”
Then it’s lightly tripped she down the stairs, he trembled like an aspen
“Tis vain, tis vain my dear young man, to hone for Barbry Ellen”
He turned his pale face to the wall, for death was in him dwellin’
“Goodbye kind friends and kinfolk all, and be kind to Barbry Ellen”
And as she passed the wooded field, she heard his deathbell knellin’
With every stroke it spoke her name, “hard-hearted Barbry Ellen”
Her eyes looked East, her eyes looked west till she saw his pale corpse comin’
“Oh bearers, bearers put him down, that I may look upon him”
The more she looked the more she grieved until she burst out crying
“Oh bearers, bearers take him off, for now I am a-dying”
“Mother, mother go make my bed, make it soft and narrow
Sweet William died for me today, and I’ll die for him tomorrow”
“Father, father go dig my grave, make it deep and narrow
William died for the love of me, and now I shall die for sorrow”
They buried her in that old church yard, Sweet William’s grave was nigh her
And from his heart grew a red, red rose, and from her heart a briar
They grew up on that old church wall, till they couldn’t grow no higher
Grew till they tied a true lover’s knot, the red rose and the briar
In Scarlet Town where I was born, there was a fair maid dwellin’
She made the lads cry “wal a day” and her name was Barbry Ellen
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