59-514: " Barbara Allen " ( Child 84 , Roud 54) is a traditional folk song that is popular throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. It tells of how the eponymous character denies a dying man's love, then dies of grief soon after his untimely death. The song began as a ballad in the seventeenth century or earlier, before quickly spreading (both orally and in print) throughout Britain and Ireland and later North America. Ethnomusicologists Steve Roud and Julia Bishop described it as "far and away
118-605: A clear tonic note, such as the Ritchie family version. English versions are more rooted in the major mode. The minor-mode Scottish tune seems to be the oldest, as it is the version found in James Oswald 's Caledonian Pocket Companion which was written in the mid-1700s. That tune survived in the oral tradition in Scotland until the twentieth century; a version sung by a Mrs. Ann Lyell (1869–1945) collected by James Madison Carpenter from in
177-567: A collection released by the Library of Congress entitled Versions and Variants of Barbara Allen from the Archive of Folk Song as part of its series Folk Music of the United States . The record compiled 30 versions of the ballad, recorded from 1933 to 1954 in the United States. "Barbara Allen's cruelty: or, the young-man's tragedy" (c.1690), the earliest "Barbara Allen" text: In Scarlet Town, where I
236-515: A festive time frame, such as May, Martinmas , or Lammas . The versions which begin by mentioning "Martinmas Time" and others which begin with "Early early in the spring" are thought to be the oldest and least corrupted by more recent printed versions. The Martinmas variants, most common in Scotland, are probably older than the Scarlet Town variants, which presumably originated in the south of England. Around half of all American versions take place in
295-593: A great deal more. VWML regularly features a variety of conferences and events, including Broadside Day, Library Lectures, the Folk Song Conference, and Special Conferences. VWML has also published resources, including the Folk Music Journal . VWML was originally founded as the Cecil Sharp Library in 1930. Sharp's books constituted the bulk of the original library holdings. The first librarian
354-451: A libelous song about the King's mistress was perfectly in character. In 1792, the renowned Austrian composer Joseph Haydn arranged "Barbara Allen" as one of over 400 folk song arrangements commissioned by George Thomson and the publishers William Napier and William Whyte. He probably took the melody from James Oswald 's Caledonian Pocket Companion , c.1750. One 1690 broadside of the song
413-565: A monograph study by Mary Ellen Brown in 2011. In 1860, Child published an eight-volume collection entitled English and Scottish Ballads , generally presenting just one variant of each ballad, via Little, Brown and Company. However, as a scholarly edition this was superseded by his later and similarly named The English and Scottish Popular Ballads . The first edition of Child's book was, once complete, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads , ed. by Francis James Child, 5 vols (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, [1882–98]). It
472-478: A party trick, ask people to sing a verse of the song, after which he would tell what county they were born in. The setting is sometimes "Scarlet Town". This may be a punning reference to Reading , as a slip-song version c. 1790 among the Madden songs at Cambridge University Library has 'In Reading town, where I was bound.' London town and Dublin town are used in other versions. The ballad often opens by establishing
531-576: A poem that "[w]ithout "Barbara Allen there'd be no ' Girl from the North Country '; Dylan performed a live eight-minute rendition in 1962 which was subsequently released on Live at The Gaslight 1962 . The ballad was covered as a demo version by Simon and Garfunkel on their anthology album The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964-1970) and a bonus track on the 2001 edition of their album Sounds of Silence as "Barbriallen", and by Art Garfunkel alone in 1973 on his album Angel Clare . June Tabor ,
590-447: A standard plot, although narrative details vary between versions. A diary entry by Samuel Pepys on 2 January 1666 contains the earliest extant reference to the song. In it, he recalls the fun and games at a New Years party: ...but above all, my dear Mrs Knipp, with whom I sang; and in perfect pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song of Barbary Allen. From this, Steve Roud and Julia Bishop have inferred
649-476: Is paralleled in several ballads including " Lord Thomas and Fair Annet ", " Lord Lovel ", and " Fair Margaret and Sweet William ". However, the ballad lacks many of the common phrases found in ballads of similar ages (e.g. mounting a "milk white steed and a dapple" grey), possibly because the strong story and imagery means these cliches are not required. A vast array of tunes were traditionally used for "Barbara Allen". Many American versions are pentatonic and without
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#1733093678242708-587: Is printed in his face, And sorrow's in him dwelling, And you must come to my master dear, If your name be Barbara Allen.' 'If death be printed in his face, And sorrow's in him dwelling, Then little better shall he be For bonny Barbara Allen.' So slowly, slowly she got up, And so slowly she came to him, And all she said when she came there, Young man, I think you are a dying. He turnd his face unto her then: 'If you be Barbara Allen, My dear,' said he, 'Come pitty me, As on my death-bed I am lying.' 'If on your death-bed you be lying, What
767-423: Is that to Barbara Allen? I cannot keep you from [your] death; So farewell,' said Barbara Allen. He turnd his face unto the wall, And death came creeping to him: 'Then adieu, adieu, and adieu to all, And adieu to Barbara Allen!' And as she was walking on a day, She heard the bell a ringing, And it did seem to ring to her 'Unworthy Barbara Allen.' She turnd herself round about, And she spy'd
826-476: Is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House . It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodicals , audio-visual materials, photographic images and sound recordings , as well as manuscripts , field notes , transcriptions etc. of a number of collectors of folk music and dance traditions in
885-662: The British Isles . According to A Dictionary of English Folklore , "... by a gradual process of professionalization the VWML has become the most important concentration of material on traditional song, dance, and music in the country." Subjects covered include: Folk/traditional/popular song , Child Ballads , Broadside ballads , Industrial/occupational songs, sea songs/shanties , singing games, Nursery rhymes , Street cries, Carols / hymns , Rounds / glees/part songs , Music hall , Ritual/ceremonial dance, Morris dance / sword dance and
944-563: The Francis James Child collection and in 2014 American folksinger Martyn Wylde released eight of the Ballads on his album The Child Ballads, Volume 1. Child Ballads are also referenced heavily in James A. Michener 's novel The Drifters . Virginia Woolf references Child Ballad number 173 "Mary Hamilton" in A Room of One's Own . The two collections have about 200 ballads in common. Each of
1003-536: The International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML) and in 2011 received designated status by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). In 2017, the library was renovated for the first time since the 1940s. In May 2006, VWML Online was launched which hosts a number of the library's indexes to manuscript collections, together with its index to mummers' plays and
1062-682: The Roud Folk Song and Broadside Indexes, the largest of their kind in the English language. The online material has been extended with the addition of a catalogue of the collection of books bequeathed by eminent folk music scholar Leslie Shepard. In addition, both Cecil Sharp's Appalachian diaries from 1915-1918 (in manuscript and transcript form) and over 300 images taken from his photographic collection are available for viewing on-line. The latter are largely portraits of contributors to his music collections from North America and England. In 2007, EFDSS
1121-952: The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library , approximately 500 traditional recordings of the song have been made. The earliest recording of the song is probably a 1907 wax cylinder recording by composer and musicologist Percy Grainger of the Lincolnshire folk singer Joseph Taylor , which was digitised by the British Library and can now be heard online via the British Library Sound Archive . Other authentic recordings include those of African American Hule "Queen" Hines of Florida (1939), Welshman Phil Tanner (1949), Irishwoman Elizabeth Cronin (early 1950s), Norfolk folk-singer Sam Larner (1958), and Appalachian folk singer Jean Ritchie (1961). Charles Seeger edited
1180-624: The "traditional" ballads that interested him from later broadside ballads. As Child died before writing a commentary on his work, it is uncertain exactly how and why he selected some ballads and discounted others. Child's collection was not the first of its kind; there had been many less scholarly collections of English and Scottish ballads, particularly from Bishop Thomas Percy 's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765) onwards. There were also "comprehensive" ballad collections from other countries. Child modelled his work on Svend Grundtvig 's Danmarks gamle Folkeviser , classifying and numbering
1239-404: The 1882-1898 edition did not include one. Child Ballads are generally heavier and darker than is usual for ballads. Some of the topics and other features characteristic enough of Child Ballads to be considered Child Ballad motifs are these: romance, enchantment, devotion, determination, obsession , jealousy, forbidden love, insanity, hallucination, uncertainty of one's sanity, the ease with which
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#17330936782421298-454: The 1930s can be heard on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website, and Ewan MacColl recorded a version learned from his mother Betsy Miller. Whilst printed versions of the lyrics influenced the versions performed by traditional singers, the tunes were rarely printed so they are thought to have been passed on from person to person through the centuries and evolved more organically. Roger Quilter wrote an arrangement in 1921, dedicated to
1357-678: The Barley recorded in 2010, and Child ballad 239 Annachie Gordon on her album Parallel Dreams in 1989. British folk rock groups such as Fairport Convention , Pentangle and Steeleye Span drew heavily on the Child Ballads in their repertoires, and many other recording artists have recorded individual ballads. Harry Smith included a number of them into his Anthology of American Folk Music . A rendition of child ballad 155 ("Fatal Flower Garden") appears on Andrew Bird's The Swimming Hour . In 2003 English folk singer June Tabor recorded
1416-504: The Child Ballads. Many of the songs he published were revived in the Folk music revival, for example " The Riddle Song " ("I gave my love a Cherry"), which he connects with Child No. 1, " Riddles Wisely Expounded ". Joan Baez sang ten Child ballads distributed among her first five albums, the liner notes of which identified them as such. Loreena McKennitt performs Child ballad 170 The Death of Queen Jane on her album The Wind that Shakes
1475-654: The Collection of Francis James Child , ed. by Helen Child Sargent and George Lyman Kittredge (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1904). 0 Corrected edition of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, five volumes (Northfield, Minnesota: Loomis House Press, 2002-2011). Not counting reissues of the 1882-98 publication, this is its second edition. It incorporates, where they apply, the additional lyrics, additional commentary, corrections and music scores that Child included in appendixes in his subsequent volumes. It includes music scores (from sources that Child cited) for many ballads for which
1534-453: The Covey are given first names based on traditional ballads. The character Barb Azure Baird's first name is based on Barbara Allen. The song has also been sampled, quoted, and featured as a dramatic device in numerous films: Child ballad The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during
1593-453: The English and Scottish ballads" (V, pp. [397]-404); "Index of published airs of English and Scottish popular ballads, with an appendix of some airs from manuscript" (V, pp. [405]-424); "Index of ballad titles" (V, pp. [425]-453); "Titles of collections of ballads, or of books containing ballads" (V, pp. [455]-468); and "Index of matters and literature" (V, pp. [469]-502). The book was reprinted, this time physically in three volumes, in 1957 by
1652-542: The English folk singer covers the song as "Barbry Allen" on her 2001 album Rosa Mundi . Angelo Branduardi covered this song as Barbrie Allen resp. Barbriallen on his two music albums Così è se mi pare – EP " and Il Rovo e la rosa in Italian. On his French EN FRANÇAIS – BEST OF compilation in 2015 he sang this song in French-adaption written by Carla Bruni . English singer-songwriter Frank Turner often covers
1711-454: The Farmer ". In 1956 four albums (consisting of eight LPs) of 72 Child Ballads sung by Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd were released: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Vols. 1–4 . In 1960 John Jacob Niles published The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles , in which he connects folk songs which he collected throughout the southern United States and Appalachia in the early 20th century to
1770-539: The Hammond brothers and George Gardiner . It also contains copies of the papers and notebooks of Sabine Baring-Gould , Ralph Vaughan Williams , Alfred Williams and James Madison Carpenter ; and the field recordings of Percy Grainger , Mike Yates and the BBC Folk Music Archive . From 1979 to 2012, Malcolm Taylor served as the librarian, and then Director, of VWML. In 2010, VWML received an excellence award by
1829-792: The New York-based Folklore Press, in association with the Pageant Book Company. It was reprinted again in 1965 in New York by Dover , this time with an essay by Walter Morris Hart entitled 'Professor Child and the Ballad' (reprinted from Publications of the Modern Language Association of America , vol. 21 [N.S. Vol. 14, no. 4]). Child's edition was also the basis for a number of shorter, popular editions, prominently including English and Scottish Popular Ballads Edited from
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1888-467: The United States through the 19th and 20th centuries. Throughout New England , for example, it was passed orally and spread by inclusion in songbooks and newspaper columns, along with other popular ballads such as " The Farmer's Curst Wife " and " The Golden Vanity ". The popularity of printed versions meant that lyrics from broadsides greatly influenced traditional singers; various collected versions can be traced back to different broadsides. According to
1947-619: The album An Echo of Hooves consisting entirely of Child ballads (210, 212, 161, 195, 191, 106, 74, 215, 88, 20, 58). Child ballad 95, The Maid Freed from the Gallows has appeared in several recordings of blues and rock bands, notably by Lead Belly as "Gallis Pole" and on the album Led Zeppelin III under the name "Gallows Pole." Child ballads also occasionally occur in the work of musical groups not usually associated with folk material, such as Ween 's recording of " The Unquiet Grave " (Child 78) under
2006-436: The ballads and noting different versions, which were placed side by side to aid comparison. As a result, one Child number may cover several ballads, which Child considered variants of the same story, although they may differ in many ways (as in " James Hatley "). Conversely, ballads classified separately may contain turns of phrase, and even entire verses, that are identical. The editorial history of Child's publication received
2065-527: The corps a coming: 'Lay down, lay down the corps of clay, That I may look upon him.' And all the while she looked on, So loudly she lay laughing, While all her friends cry'd [out] amain, 'Unworthy Barbara Allen!' When he was dead, and laid in grave, Then death came creeping to she: 'O mother, mother, make my bed, For his death hath quite undone me. 'A hard-hearted creature that I was, To slight one that lovd me so dearly; I wish I had been more kinder to him, The time of his life when he
2124-605: The early twentieth century, the American writer Robert E. Howard wove verses of the song into a civil war ghost story that was posthumously published under the title ""For the Love of Barbara Allen"." Howard Richardson and William Berney's 1942 stage play Dark of the Moon is based on the ballad, as a reference to the influence of English, Irish and Scottish folktales and songs in Appalachia . It
2183-464: The largest online archive in the world of English folk manuscripts. The Full English is currently integrated into the online archives of VWML. The Take 6 archive was also integrated into The Full English. From 2017 to 2018, folk works collected by James Madison Carpenter were digitized from the Library of Congress and added to the VWML archives as the Carpenter Folk Online. In 2019,
2242-490: The month of May; these versions are the most diverse, as they appear to have existed within the oral tradition rather than on broadsides. After the setting is established, a dialogue between the two characters generally follows. The dying man is called Sir John Graeme in the earliest known printings. American versions of the ballad often call him some variation of William, James, or Jimmy; his last name may be specified as Grove, Green, Grame, or another. In most English versions,
2301-674: The most widely collected song in the English language—equally popular in England, Scotland and Ireland, and with hundreds of versions collected over the years in North America." As with most folk songs, "Barbara Allen" has been published and performed under many different titles, including " The Ballet of Barbara Allen ", " Barbara Allen's Cruelty ", " Barbarous Ellen ", " Edelin ", " Hard Hearted Barbary Ellen ", " Sad Ballet Of Little Johnnie Green ", " Sir John Graham ", " Bonny Barbara Allan ", " Barbry Allen " among others. The ballad generally follows
2360-455: The narrator is often the unnamed male protagonist. The woman is called "Barbry" rather than "Barbara" in almost all American versions and some English versions, and "Bawbee" in many Scottish versions. Her name is sometimes "Ellen" instead of "Allen". The song often concludes with poetic motif of a rose growing from his grave and a brier from hers forming a " true lovers' knot ", which symbolises their fidelity in love even after death. This motif
2419-535: The noted Irish baritone Frederick Ranalow , who had become famous for his performance as Macheath in The Beggar's Opera at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. Quilter set each verse differently, using countermelodies as undercurrents. An octave B with a bare fifth tolls like a bell in the fourth verse. A short piano interlude before the fifth verse was commented on favourably by Percy Grainger . Quilter later incorporated
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2478-577: The other, some differ from fairy tales solely by their being songs and in verse; some have been recast in prose form as fairy tales. A large part of the collection is about Robin Hood ; some are about King Arthur . A few of the ballads are rather bawdy. Many Child Ballads have subsequently appeared in contemporary music recordings. Burl Ives's 1949 album, The Return of the Wayfaring Stranger , for example, includes two: " Lord Randall " and " The Divil and
2537-401: The second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads . The tunes of most of the ballads were collected and published by Bertrand Harris Bronson in and around the 1960s. The ballads vary in age; for instance, the manuscript of " Judas " dates to the thirteenth century and a version of " A Gest of Robyn Hode "
2596-410: The setting in his Arnold Book of Old Songs , rededicated to his late nephew Arnold Guy Vivian , and published in 1950. Baritone vocalist Royal Dadmun released a version in 1922 on Victor Records . The song is credited to the arrangers, Eaton Faning and John Liptrot Hatton . British composer Florence Margaret Spencer Palmer published Variations on Barbara Allen for piano in 1923. Versions of
2655-488: The song a cappella during live performances. One rendition is included on the compilation album The Second Three Years . UK folk duo Nancy Kerr & James Fagan included the song on their 2005 album Strands of Gold, and also on their 2019 live album An Evening With Nancy Kerr & James Fagan. The Renaissance folk-rock band Blackmore's Night include the song on their 2010 album Autumn Sky . The song has been adapted and retold in numerous non-musical contexts. In
2714-431: The song was popular at that time, suggesting that it may have been written for stage performance, as Elizabeth Knepp was a professional actress, singer, and dancer. However, the folklorists Phillips Barry and Fannie Hardy Eckstorm were of the opinion that the song "was not a stage song at all but a libel on Barbara Villiers and her relations with Charles II ". Charles Seeger points out that Pepys' delight at hearing
2773-437: The song were recorded in the 1950s and '60s by folk revivalists , including Pete Seeger . Eddy Arnold recorded and released a version on his 1955 album "Wanderin'". The Everly Brothers recorded and released a version on their 1958 folk album, " Songs Our Daddy Taught Us ". Joan Baez released a version in 1961, the same year as Jean Ritchie's recording. Bob Dylan said that folk songs were highly influential on him, writing in
2832-636: The title "Cold Blows the Wind" and versions of " Barbara Allen " (Child 84) recorded by the Everly Brothers , Art Garfunkel , and (on the soundtrack of the 2004 film A Love Song for Bobby Long ) John Travolta . In 2009, Fleet Foxes included " The Fause Knight Upon the Road " as the b-side to the 7" release of " Mykonos " (as "False Knight on the Road"). In 2013 US singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer released Child Ballads comprising seven songs from
2891-500: The titles "Barbara Allen's Cruelty" and "Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allen". Ethnomusicologist Francis James Child compiled these renditions together in the nineteenth century with several others found in the Roxburghe Ballads to create his A and B standard versions, used by later scholars as a reference. The ballad was first printed in the United States in 1836. Many variations of the song continued to be printed on broadsides in
2950-682: The truth can be suppressed temporarily, supernatural experiences, supernatural deeds, half-human creatures , teenagers, family strife, the boldness of outlaws, abuse of authority, betting, lust, death, karma , punishment, sin, morality, vanity, folly, dignity, nobility, honor, loyalty, dishonor, riddles , historical events, omens , fate, trust, shock, deception, disguise, treachery, disappointment , revenge, violence, murder, cruelty , combat, courage, escape, exile, rescue, forgiveness, being tested, human weaknesses, and folk heroes . On one extreme, some Child Ballads recount identifiable historical people, in known events, embellished for dramatic effect. On
3009-500: The two collections includes about a hundred ballads that the other does not. All the variants contained in Child's edition are digitised, without apparatus, at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ and http://www.peterrobins.co.uk/ballads/ . Volume 1 ; Volume 2 ; Volume 3 ; Volume 4 ; Volume 5 ; Volume 6 ; Volume 7 ; Volume 8 . Vaughan Williams Memorial Library The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library ( VWML )
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#17330936782423068-647: Was Joan, Sharp's daughter. In 1940, four bombs hit the Cecil Sharp House during World War II, but the library remained intact. When Ralph Vaughan Williams , composer , collector and past president of the EFDSS, died in 1958, the library was renamed in his honor. The building continued to be designated as the Cecil Sharp House. Over the years the library has added literature , sound and manuscript collections of other folklorists and collectors, such as Lucy Broadwood , Janet Blunt , Anne Gilchrist , George Butterworth ,
3127-445: Was also retold as a radio drama on the program Suspense , which aired 20 October 1952, and was entitled "The Death of Barbara Allen" with Anne Baxter in the titular role. A British radio play titled Barbara Allen featured Honeysuckle Weeks and Keith Barron ; it was written by David Pownall and premiered on BBC Radio 7 on 16 February 2009. In The Hunger Games prequel novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes , characters from
3186-909: Was awarded a grant, which led to the creation of the Take 6 archive. This archive features of six of the most prominent folk song collections of EFDSS, including the Janet Blunt Collection, the George Butterworth Collection, the Francis Collinson Collection, the George Gardiner Collection, the Anne G. Gilchrist Collection, and the Hammond Collection. In 2014, EFDSS partnered with English museums and cultural heritage institutions and launched The Full English Archive,
3245-419: Was bound, There was a fair maid dwelling, Whom I had chosen to be my own, And her name it was Barbara Allen. All in the merry month of May, When green leaves they was springing, This young man on his death-bed lay, For the love of Barbara Allen. He sent his man unto her then, To the town where she was dwelling: 'You must come to my master dear, If your name be Barbara Allen. 'For death
3304-409: Was near me.' So this maid she then did dye, And desired to be buried by him, And repented her self before she dy'd, That ever she did deny him. The lyrics are nowhere near as varied across the oral tradition as would be expected. This is because the continuous popularity of the song in print meant that variations were "corrected". Nonetheless, American folklorist Harry Smith was known to, as
3363-399: Was printed in one thousand copies, and issued in ten parts, each with a half-title and title page. The final title pages for each of the five volumes, printed in red and black, were issued with part 10. Part 10 emerged after Child's death, and was edited by George Lyman Kittredge . Volume 5 contained a variety of scholarly apparatuses: the "Glossary" (V, pp. [309]-396); "Sources of the texts of
3422-540: Was printed in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The majority of the ballads, however, date to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although some are claimed to have very ancient influences, only a handful can be definitively traced to before 1600. Moreover, few of the tunes collected are as old as the words. Nevertheless, Child's collection was far more comprehensive than any previous collection of ballads in English. Many of Child's ballads were obtained from printed broadsides , but he generally distinguished
3481-615: Was published in London under the title "Barbara Allen's cruelty: or, the young-man's tragedy" (see lyrics below). With Barbara Allen's [l]amentation for her unkindness to her lover, and her self". Additional printings were common in Britain throughout the eighteenth century. Scottish poet Allan Ramsay published "Bonny Barbara Allen" in his Tea-Table Miscellany published in 1740. Soon after, Thomas Percy published two similar renditions in his 1765 collection Reliques of Ancient English Poetry under
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