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Title
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Barbara Allen
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Singer
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Mills, James
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Notes
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Williams, Alfred: Ms / WGS: 'Barbara Allen dates from at least the opening years of the seventeenth century. It is claimed as a Scotch song, and such indeed it may be, though I am of the opinion that more than one of the songs generally accepted as Scotch have had an English origin. The references to Reading Town and Newbury Town may be merely local import, though in a 'Bundle of Ballads' published in 1891 by Henry Morley, LLD, Professor of English Language and Literature at University College, London, the opening line has 'In Scarlet Town' which is obviously Reading Town disguised. The piece was very popular in the Thames Valley and occurs in several forms. As an illustration of the manner in which a piece may vary in one locality I am printing three versions procured within a space of twenty five miles. It is difficult to say which is the oldest and mist nearly original form. Obtained of J Mills, South Cerney and Latton.'
Note 2
In Verse 2 Line 2 the original text read:
When green leaves were swelling
In Verse 6 the original text read:
As she was walking o'er the fields,
She heard the bells a-tolling,
And as they tolled they seemed to say -
'Hard hearted Barbara Allen.'
Transcribed and edited by Chris Wildridge, 2010.
