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A diary entry by [[Samuel Pepys]] on January 2, 1666 contains the earliest extant reference to the song.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> In it, he recalls the fun and games at a New Years party:<ref name=Pep>{{cite web|last=Pepys|first=Samuel|title=Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 41: January/February 1665-66|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4163|publisher=Project Gutenberg|quote=Pepys - Diary - Vol 41}}</ref> <blockquote>...but above all, my dear Mrs Knipp whom I sang; and in perfect pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song of Barbary Allen.</blockquote>
A diary entry by [[Samuel Pepys]] on January 2, 1666 contains the earliest extant reference to the song.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> In it, he recalls the fun and games at a New Years party:<ref name=Pep>{{cite web|last=Pepys|first=Samuel|title=Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 41: January/February 1665-66|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4163|publisher=Project Gutenberg|quote=Pepys - Diary - Vol 41}}</ref> <blockquote>...but above all, my dear Mrs Knipp whom I sang; and in perfect pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song of Barbary Allen.</blockquote>


From this, Roud & Bishop inferred the song was popular at the time. They suggested that it may have been written for stage performance, as [[Elizabeth Knepp]] was a professional actress, singer, and dancer.<ref name="Roud & Bishop, 206-7" />
From this, Roud & Bishop have inferred the song was popular at that time. They suggested that it may have been written for stage performance, as [[Elizabeth Knepp]] was a professional actress, singer, and dancer.<ref name="Roud & Bishop, 206-7" />


One 1690 [[Broadside (music)|broadside]] of the song was published in London under the loquacious title "Barbara Allen's cruelty: or, the young-man's tragedy. With Barbara Allen's [l]amentation for her unkindness to her lover, and her self".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://estc.bl.uk/R226987 | title=English Short-title Catalogue, "Barbara Allen’s cruelty: or, the young-man’s tragedy." | publisher=British Library | accessdate=May 8, 2012}}</ref> Additional printing were common in Britain throughout the eighteenth century. The ballad was first printed in the United States in 1836.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} Many variations of the song continued to be printed on broadsides in the United States through the 19th and 20th centuries. It was also 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 Sweet Trinity|The Golden Vanity]]".<ref name="Post - Music - 27-9">{{cite book|last=Post|first=Jennifer|title=Music in Rural New England|year=2004|publisher=University of New Hampshire Press|location=Lebanon, NH|isbn=1-58465-415-5|pages=27–9}}</ref>
One 1690 [[Broadside (music)|broadside]] of the song was published in London under the title "Barbara Allen's cruelty: or, the young-man's tragedy. With Barbara Allen's [l]amentation for her unkindness to her lover, and her self".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://estc.bl.uk/R226987 | title=English Short-title Catalogue, "Barbara Allen’s cruelty: or, the young-man’s tragedy." | publisher=British Library | accessdate=May 8, 2012}}</ref> Additional printing were common in Britain throughout the eighteenth century. The ballad was first printed in the United States in 1836.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} Many variations of the song continued to be printed on broadsides in the United States through the 19th and 20th centuries. Throughout New England, 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 Sweet Trinity|The Golden Vanity]]".<ref name="Post - Music - 27-9">{{cite book|last=Post|first=Jennifer|title=Music in Rural New England|year=2004|publisher=University of New Hampshire Press|location=Lebanon, NH|isbn=1-58465-415-5|pages=27–9}}</ref>


==Synopsis==
==Synopsis==
Line 86: Line 86:


===Variations===
===Variations===
"Barbara Allen" has been published and spread under many different titles. The ballad and its heroine have in conjunction been called "The Ballet of Barbara Allen", "Barbara Allen's Cruelty", "Barbarous Ellen",<ref name="Coffin - British Traditional - 87-90">{{cite book | title=The British Traditional Ballad in North America | publisher=The American Folklore Society | author=Coffin, Tristram P. | year=1950 | location=Philadelphia, PA | pages=87–90}}</ref> "Edelin", "Hard Hearted Barbary Ellen", "Sad Ballet Of Little Johnnie Green", "Sir John Graham", "Bonny Barbara Allan", "Barbry Allen" among others.<ref name="FMI - Barbara Allen">{{cite web | url=http://www.ibiblio.org/keefer/b03.htm#Baral | title=Barbara/Barbry Allen | publisher=Ibiblio | year=2011 | accessdate=January 16, 2013 | author=Keefer, Jane}}</ref>
As with most folk songs, "Barbara Allen" has been published and performed under many different titles. The ballad and its heroine have in conjunction been called "The Ballet of Barbara Allen", "Barbara Allen's Cruelty", "Barbarous Ellen",<ref name="Coffin - British Traditional - 87-90">{{cite book | title=The British Traditional Ballad in North America | publisher=The American Folklore Society | author=Coffin, Tristram P. | year=1950 | location=Philadelphia, PA | pages=87–90}}</ref> "Edelin", "Hard Hearted Barbary Ellen", "Sad Ballet Of Little Johnnie Green", "Sir John Graham", "Bonny Barbara Allan", "Barbry Allen" among others.<ref name="FMI - Barbara Allen">{{cite web | url=http://www.ibiblio.org/keefer/b03.htm#Baral | title=Barbara/Barbry Allen | publisher=Ibiblio | year=2011 | accessdate=January 16, 2013 | author=Keefer, Jane}}</ref>


The ballad form of "Barbara Allen"—copies exist in special collections at the [[British Library]], the [[Huntington Library]], and the [[National Library of Scotland]]—most often features quatrains with various rhyme schemes, and most last lines of the quatrains end with a refrain of sorts by repeating the name, Barbara Allen.<ref>{{cite web|title=EBBA|url=http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/search_combined/?ss=barbara+allen|accessdate=15 September 2014}}</ref> Online facsimiles of the ballad are available for public consumption at sites like the [[English Broadside Ballad Archive]].
Old printings of "Barbara Allen" prominently featured quatrains with various rhyme schemes, and most last lines of the quatrains end with a refrain of sorts by repeating the name, Barbara Allen. Extant copies are held in special collections at the [[British Library]], the [[Huntington Library]], and the [[National Library of Scotland]]) <ref>{{cite web|title=EBBA|url=http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/search_combined/?ss=barbara+allen|accessdate=15 September 2014}}</ref> Online facsimiles of the ballad are available for public consumption at sites like the [[English Broadside Ballad Archive]].


The setting is sometimes "Scarlet Town". This may be a punning reference to [[Reading, Berkshire|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 story usually takes place "in the merry month of May" although some versions place it in the autumn. The young man who dies of a broken heart is usually called Sweet William or some slight variant such as young Willie Grove or sweet Willie Graeme. In other versions the name is Sir John Graeme or Jemmye Grove. Some versions of the ballad explain Barbara's "cruelty" by revealing that she believed the young man slighted her first.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/180616|title=The Ballad of Barbara Allen by Anonymous|website=PoetryFoundation.org|accessdate=June 12, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/40/10.html|title=Bonny Barbara Allan, Traditional Ballads, English Poetry I: from Chaucer to Gray|publisher=[[Bartleby.com]]|accessdate=June 12, 2013}}</ref>
The setting is sometimes "Scarlet Town". This may be a punning reference to [[Reading, Berkshire|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 story usually takes place "in the merry month of May" although some versions place it in the autumn. The young man who dies of a broken heart is usually called Sweet William or some slight variant such as young Willie Grove or sweet Willie Graeme. In other versions the name is Sir John Graeme or Jemmye Grove. Some versions of the ballad explain Barbara's "cruelty" by revealing that she believed the young man slighted her first.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/180616|title=The Ballad of Barbara Allen by Anonymous|website=PoetryFoundation.org|accessdate=June 12, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/40/10.html|title=Bonny Barbara Allan, Traditional Ballads, English Poetry I: from Chaucer to Gray|publisher=[[Bartleby.com]]|accessdate=June 12, 2013}}</ref>

Revision as of 12:55, 17 February 2016

"Barbara Allen"
Song

"Barbara Allen" (Child 84, Roud 54) is a traditional ballad originating in Scotland in the 17th century or earlier, which immigrants introduced to the British colonies in America, where it became a popular folk song.[1][2][3] Ethnomusicologists Steve Roud and Julia Bishop described it as "far and away 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."[4]

History

A diary entry by Samuel Pepys on January 2, 1666 contains the earliest extant reference to the song.[3] In it, he recalls the fun and games at a New Years party:[5]

...but above all, my dear Mrs Knipp whom I sang; and in perfect pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song of Barbary Allen.

From this, Roud & Bishop have inferred the song was popular at that time. They suggested that it may have been written for stage performance, as Elizabeth Knepp was a professional actress, singer, and dancer.[4]

One 1690 broadside of the song was published in London under the title "Barbara Allen's cruelty: or, the young-man's tragedy. With Barbara Allen's [l]amentation for her unkindness to her lover, and her self".[6] Additional printing were common in Britain throughout the eighteenth century. The ballad was first printed in the United States in 1836.[citation needed] Many variations of the song continued to be printed on broadsides in the United States through the 19th and 20th centuries. Throughout New England, 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".[7]

Synopsis

Illustration from 1840 printing in the Forget Me Not Songster

Although renditions of the song can vary considerably in plot, they generally follow a common narrative. A young man lies dying for the love of Barbara Allen; he has a servant summon her to his bedside for solace, but she does little but scorn him. Denied his true love, the hero succumbs to illness; in some versions, he leaves her an inheritance before dying.[8] Upon hearing the church bells of his funeral, Barbara Allen regrets her decision and senses that her own death is near. She too dies of heartbreak, and they are buried beside one another.[9] The song often concludes with a "rose-briar motif" of several stanzas describing floral growth on the lovers' neighboring graves, symbolising fidelity in love even after death.[10] This motif is shared with other ballads, including "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet", "Lord Lovel", and "Fair Margaret and Sweet William".[11]

Lyrics

Variations of the song collected by ethnomusicologists in England follow a regular form, with some common variations. Francis Child's A version, which was drawn from Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany printed in 1740, goes thus:

It was in and about the Martinmas time,
When the green leaves were a falling,
That Sir John Graeme in the west country
Fell in love with Barbara Allan.
He sent his men down through the town,
To the place where she was dwelling:
'O haste and come to my master dear,
Gin ye be Barbara Allan.'
O Hooly, hooly rose she up,
To the place where he was lying,
And when she drew the curtain by,
'Young man, I think you're dying.'
O it's I'm sick, and very, very sick,
And 't is a' Barbara Allan:'
'O the better for me ye's never be,
Tho your heart's blood were a spilling.
O dinna ye mind, young man,' said she,
'When ye was in the tavern a drinking,
That ye made the healths gae round and round,
And slighted Barbara Allan?'
He turned his face unto the wall,
And death was with him dealing:
'Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all,
And be kind to Barbara Allan.'
And slowly, slowly raise she up,
And slowly, slowly left him,
And sighing said, she coud not stay,
Since death of life had reft him.
She had not gane a mile but two
When she heartd the death-bell ringing,
And every jow that the death-bell geid,
It cry'd, Woe to Barbara Allan!
'O mother, mother make my bed!
O make it saft and narrow!
Since my love died for me to-day,
I'll die for him to-morrow.'

Variations

As with most folk songs, "Barbara Allen" has been published and performed under many different titles. The ballad and its heroine have in conjunction been called "The Ballet of Barbara Allen", "Barbara Allen's Cruelty", "Barbarous Ellen",[9] "Edelin", "Hard Hearted Barbary Ellen", "Sad Ballet Of Little Johnnie Green", "Sir John Graham", "Bonny Barbara Allan", "Barbry Allen" among others.[12]

Old printings of "Barbara Allen" prominently featured quatrains with various rhyme schemes, and most last lines of the quatrains end with a refrain of sorts by repeating the name, Barbara Allen. Extant copies are held in special collections at the British Library, the Huntington Library, and the National Library of Scotland) [13] Online facsimiles of the ballad are available for public consumption at sites like the English Broadside Ballad Archive.

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 story usually takes place "in the merry month of May" although some versions place it in the autumn. The young man who dies of a broken heart is usually called Sweet William or some slight variant such as young Willie Grove or sweet Willie Graeme. In other versions the name is Sir John Graeme or Jemmye Grove. Some versions of the ballad explain Barbara's "cruelty" by revealing that she believed the young man slighted her first.[14][15]

Roger Quilter wrote an arrangement in 1921, dedicated to 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.[16] Quilter later incorporated the setting in his Arnold Book of Old Songs, rededicated to his late nephew Arnold Guy Vivian, and published in 1950.[17]

Contemporary renditions

Barbara Allen
sung by Hule "Queen" Hines, recorded by John and Ruby Lomax at Florida State Prison, June 4, 1939.
Problems playing this file? See media help.


Versions of the song were recorded in the 1950s and 60s by folk revivalists. Jean Ritchie and Joan Baez both released versions of it in 1961.[18] Bob Dylan said that folk songs were highly influential on him, writing in 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. [19]

Charles Seeger edited 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 1933-54 in the United States.[20]

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.[21]

The ballad was covered as a demo version by Simon and Garfunkel on their anthology album The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964-1970) as "Barbriallen," [22] and by Art Garfunkel alone in 1973 on his album Angel Clare.

Angelo Branduardi covered this song as Barbrie Allen resp. Barbriallen on his two Music Albums "Cosi e se mi pare - EP[23] " and "Il Rovo e la rosa[24] " in Italian. On his French EN FRANÇAIS - BEST OF Compilation in 2015 he sung this song in French-adaption written by Carla Bruni.[25][26]

The song has been featured as a dramatic device in numerous films of cultural significance. It has been included in the 1958 Warner Brothers cartoon Robin Hood Daffy, the 1951 film Scrooge (released in the United States as A Christmas Carol), the 1940 film Tom Brown's School Days, Jane Campion's Oscar-winning 1993 film The Piano, and the 2004 film A Love Song for Bobby Long.[27]

Over time, the song has been adapted and retold in numerous non-musical venues. 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 was also retold as a radio drama on the program Suspense, which aired October 20, 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[28] and premiered on BBC Radio 7 February 16, 2009.[29]

References

  1. ^ Raph, Theodore (October 1, 1986). American Song Treasury: 100 Favorites. Dover. p. 20. This folk song originated in Scotland and dates back at least to the beginning of the seventeenth century
  2. ^ Arthur Gribben, ed., The Great Famine and the Irish Diaspora in America, University of Massachusetts Press (March 1, 1999), pg. 112.
  3. ^ a b "Late Junction: Never heard of Barbara Allen? The world's most collected ballad has been around for 450 years". BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  4. ^ a b Roud, Steve & Julia Bishop (2012). The New Penguin Book of Folk Songs. Penguin. pp. 406–7. ISBN 978-0-141-19461-5.
  5. ^ Pepys, Samuel. "Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 41: January/February 1665-66". Project Gutenberg. Pepys - Diary - Vol 41
  6. ^ "English Short-title Catalogue, "Barbara Allen's cruelty: or, the young-man's tragedy."". British Library. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
  7. ^ Post, Jennifer (2004). Music in Rural New England. Lebanon, NH: University of New Hampshire Press. pp. 27–9. ISBN 1-58465-415-5.
  8. ^ Child, Francis James (1965). The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Vol. 2. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 276–9.
  9. ^ a b Coffin, Tristram P. (1950). The British Traditional Ballad in North America. Philadelphia, PA: The American Folklore Society. pp. 87–90.
  10. ^ Würzbach, Natascha; Simone M. Salz (1995). Motif Index of the Child Corpus: The English and Scottish Popular Ballad. Gayna Walls (trans.). Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 25, 57. ISBN 3-11-014290-2.
  11. ^ Coffin, Tristram P. (1950). The British Traditional Ballad in North America. Philadelphia: The American Folklore Society. pp. 76–9, 87–90, .{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  12. ^ Keefer, Jane (2011). "Barbara/Barbry Allen". Ibiblio. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  13. ^ "EBBA". Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  14. ^ "The Ballad of Barbara Allen by Anonymous". PoetryFoundation.org. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  15. ^ "Bonny Barbara Allan, Traditional Ballads, English Poetry I: from Chaucer to Gray". Bartleby.com. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  16. ^ Valerie Langfield, Roger Quilter: His Life and Music, p.202
  17. ^ Music Web International
  18. ^ Wilentz, Sean; Marcus, Greil. The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad. New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 13–4.
  19. ^ Wilentz 1938, p. 14-15.
  20. ^ http://www.loc.gov/folklife/LP/BarbaraAllenAFS_L54_sm.pdf
  21. ^ "Browse All Recordings | Barbara Allen, Take 4 (1922-04-05) | National Jukebox". Loc.gov. 1922-04-05. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  22. ^ "The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964-1970) - The Official Simon & Garfunkel Site". Simonandgarfunkel.com. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  23. ^ "Angelo Branduardi - Cosi È Se Mi Pare". Angelobranduardi.it. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  24. ^ Michele Laurent. "IL ROVO E LA ROSA Angelo Branduardi". Angelobranduardi.it. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  25. ^ "En français - Best Of - Angelo Branduardi". Wmgartists.com. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  26. ^ http://www.discogs.com/Angelo-Branduardi-Best-Of-En-Français-/release/6767329
  27. ^ "Travolta Sings For 'Bobby Long'". Billboard. 2004-12-29. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  28. ^ "Barabara Allen by David Pownall". Radio Drama Reviews.com. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  29. ^ "David Pownall - Barbara Allen broadcast history". BBC Online. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
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