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User:Memtgs/sandbobox/Barbara Allen (song)

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"Barbara Allen" (Child 84, Roud 54) is a traditional ballad originating in England and Scotland, which immigrants introduced to the United States where it became a popular folk song.[1] According to Roud and Bishop, "Barbara Allen is 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."[2]

History

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The earliest known mention of the song is in Samuel Pepys' diary[3] for January 2. 1666 (ed. Robert Latham & William Matthews, Vol. vii, London: [1972], p. 1.) where 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 Roud & Bishop infer that the song was "brand new, or at least in vogue" and was quite possibly written for the stage as Elizabeth Knepp was a professional actress, singer and dancer.[4]

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, was published as a broadside ballad in London c.1690.[5] However, it appears to have been well known before since the song was to be sung 'To the tune of Brbara [sic] Allen.' Further editions were printed in Britain throughout the eighteenth century, several of which were printed in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh or Aberdeen indicating that the song was of Scottish or northern English origin. The ballad was first printed in the United States in 1836.

Synopsis

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Although renditions of the song can vary considerably in plot, they generally follow a common narrative: a young man lays 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.[6] Upon hearing the church bells of his funeral, Barbara Allen regrets her decision. She too dies of heartbreak, and they are buried beside one another.[7]

Often, the song concludes with a "rose-briar motif" of several stanzas describing floral growth on the lovers' neighboring graves. This motif is shared with other ballads, including "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet", "Lord Lovel", and "Fair Margaret and Sweet William".[8]

Variations

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"Barbara Allen" is has been published and spread bearing different titles. The ballad and its heroine have in conjunction been named "The Ballet of Barbara Allen", "Barbara Allen's Cruelty", "Barbarous Ellen",[7] "Edelin", "Hard Hearted Barbary Ellen", "Sad Ballet Of Little Johnnie Green", "Sir John Graham", and "Bonny Barbara Allan", among others.[9]

The details of the story vary significantly in different printed and recorded versions. 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 some versions. The action 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. The version printed below calls him Jemmye Grove. Some longer versions of the ballad explain Barbara's "cruelty" by saying that she (mistakenly) believed that the young man slighted her first. Under a revisionist interpretation, William may have been guilty of emotional blackmail or stalking behavior toward Barbara in refusing to accept her rejection.[citation needed]

Contemporary Renditions

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Johnny Cash re-wrote lyrics to this song and performed it live at Austin City Limits in 1987. The song was renamed "The Ballad of Barbara". The main theme of the song is about divorce instead of death. The main character was born and raised in a southern town, and eventually moved his way up north to possibly New York or Washington D.C. After having a lot of girls and drinks, he discovers his true love where they get married under a "lofty steeple". However, when the main character offers to take her to see his folks down south, she refuses and decides to "take the city". The main character divorces her and moves back home "much wiser now and older".[citation needed]

John Wesley Harding updated the song into a modern ballad about wandering and lost love as "The Red Rose and the Briar" on his album Here Comes the Groom.[citation needed]

Les Barker wrote the poem "Maybe Then I'll Be A Rose" as what he called a "sensible version" of the song, with the lovers seizing the day rather than waiting until death to embrace one another. It was set to music by Savourna Stevenson and recorded by June Tabor for her album Rosa Mundi; she frequently includes it in her live sets.[10]

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The first verse is sung by Porky Pig, in the character of Friar Tuck, in the 1958 Warner Bros. cartoon Robin Hood Daffy. Much of the song is sung in the 1951 film classic Scrooge, starring Alastair Sim. It is also sung in the 1940 movie, Tom Brown's School Days. It is heard again in the 1958 Yul Brynner film, The Buccaneer, and in an episode of the 1989–91 TV series Bordertown. It is also sung in the TV show, The Waltons in an episode entitled "The Conflict." In the 2000 mockumentary Best in Show, Michael McKean's character sings a verse of this song to his dog over the phone, saying it is the dog's favorite song. John Travolta does a short rendition of the song in A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004), included on the soundtrack. The song is sung in various versions in the 2000 film Songcatcher. It is also sung by the character, Flora in Jane Campion's The Piano (1993).

The line, 'there was a fair maid dwelling,' was used as the title of a novel by R.F. Delderfield in 1960. The stage play Dark of the Moon (1942), by Howard Richardson and William Berney, is based on the ballad, as a reference to the influence of English, Irish and Scottish folktales and songs in the Appalachian region. The name of the female lead is Barbara Allen.

"'For the Love of Barbara Allen'" is the title of a short story by Robert E. Howard in which an old dying woman is reunited with the youthful reincarnation of her lost love, killed in the Civil War. The song's lyrics are quoted at the beginning and end of the tale, and the ballad itself is cited as a fixture in the lives of the Scotch-Irish pioneers.

The radio series Suspense did a dramatic interpretation of the ballad on October 20, 1952 entitled "The Death of Barbara Allen" with Anne Baxter in the title role.

The Ballad of Barbara Allen is one of the recurring themes in the comic strip Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron which appeared in Daniel Clowes' Eightball (issues 1-10). In dream sequences and in a film within the story a bearded folk singer sings various lines from the song.

The song provided the inspiration for a British radio play called Barbara Allen in which the title role was played by Honeysuckle Weeks and Keith Barron played Sir John Grove, the father of Jemmye Grove. The play was written by David Pownall and initially broadcast on BBC Radio 7 on February 16, 2009.

Vincent Woods' 1992 play about the Irish-British Troubles, At the Black Pig's Dyke, uses the song at key moments to comment on the action and relations depicted in the drama.

The song is referenced in Scott Miller's song, "Dear Sarah," in which a Civil War soldier is writing home to his love. The lyrics of the chorus are "And the nights are long, but I write you ev'ry day. And I hum a song that you used to sing. The one of sweet William his love, Barbara Allen And how she was always a long ways away." The ending goes, "In Scarlet Town, I did dwell. There was a fair maid a-dwellin'. Many men cried, well, for the love Barbara Allen"

Media

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Barbara Allen
A Florida State Prison recording of this song.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

References

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  1. ^ Theodore Raph, The American Song Treasury: 100 Favorites, Dover Publications (October 1, 1986), pg. 20; and Arthur Gribben, ed., The Great Famine and the Irish Diaspora in America, University of Massachusetts Press (March 1, 1999), pg. 112.
  2. ^ Roud, Steve & Julia Bishop (2012). The New Penguin Book of Folk Songs. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-141-19461-5. p. 406.
  3. ^ "Diary of Samuel Pepys-Volume 41:January/February 1665-66". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  4. ^ Roud & Bishop. p. 407.
  5. ^ "English Short-title Catalogue, "Barbara Allen's cruelty: or, the young-man's tragedy."". British Library. Retrieved May 08, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. ^ Child, Francis James (1965). The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Vol. 2. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 276–9.
  7. ^ a b Coffin, Tristram P. (1950). The British Traditional Ballad in North America. Philadelphia, PA: The American Folklore Society. pp. 87–90.
  8. ^ 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)
  9. ^ Keefer, Jane (2011). "Barbara/Barbry Allen". Ibiblio. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  10. ^ "Mainly Norfolk". Retrieved March 28, 2012.
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