Barbara Allen (song)

Last updated

"Barbara Allen"
Forget Me Not Songster - Barbara Allen p.1.jpg
Song lyrics published 1840 in the Forget Me Not Songster
Song
Published 17th century (earliest known)
Genre Broadside ballad, folksong
Songwriter(s) Unknown

"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.

Contents

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. [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]

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", [5] "Edelin", "Hard Hearted Barbary Ellen", "Sad Ballet Of Little Johnnie Green", "Sir John Graham", "Bonny Barbara Allan", "Barbry Allen" among others. [6]

Synopsis

The ballad generally follows a standard plot, although narrative details vary between versions.

History

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys.jpg
Samuel Pepys

A diary entry by Samuel Pepys on 2 January 1666 contains the earliest extant reference to the song. [3] 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. [8]

From this, Steve Roud and Julia Bishop have inferred 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. [4] 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". [9] Charles Seeger points out that Pepys' delight at hearing a libelous song about the King's mistress was perfectly in character. [9]

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. [10] [11] He probably took the melody from James Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion, c.1750. [12]

Early printed versions

Reliques of Ancient English Poetry Relicsofanciente03perciala 0007.jpg
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry

One 1690 broadside of the song 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". [13]

Illustration printed c.1760, London Barbara Allen's cruelty; or, the young man's tragedy. To the tune of Barbara Allen. Fleuron N015486-1.png
Illustration printed c.1760, London

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. [14] Soon after, Thomas Percy published two similar renditions in his 1765 collection Reliques of Ancient English Poetry under the titles "Barbara Allen's Cruelty" and "Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allen". [15] 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, [7] used by later scholars as a reference.

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, 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". [16]

The popularity of printed versions meant that lyrics from broadsides greatly influenced traditional singers; various collected versions can be traced back to different broadsides. [9]

Traditional recordings

According to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, approximately 500 traditional recordings of the song have been made. [17] 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, [18] which was digitised by the British Library and can now be heard online via the British Library Sound Archive. [19] Other authentic recordings include those of African American Hule "Queen" Hines of Florida (1939), [20] Welshman Phil Tanner (1949), [21] Irishwoman Elizabeth Cronin (early 1950s), [22] Norfolk folk-singer Sam Larner (1958), [23] and Appalachian folk singer Jean Ritchie (1961). [24] [25] 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 to 1954 in the United States. [9]

Lyrics

"Barbara Allen's cruelty: or, the young-man's tragedy" (c.1690), the earliest "Barbara Allen" text:

Cruel Barbara Allen by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale (1920) The Book of old English songs and ballads - 05 Cruel Barbara Allen.jpg
Cruel Barbara Allen by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale (1920)

In Scarlet Town, where I 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 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 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 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 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.

Variations

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". [9] Nonetheless, American folklorist Harry Smith was known to, as a party trick, ask people to sing a verse of the song, after which he would tell what county they were born in. [26]

Setting

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. [27] [28]

The ballad often opens by establishing 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.[ citation needed ]

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 the month of May; these versions are the most diverse, as they appear to have existed within the oral tradition rather than on broadsides. [9]

After the setting is established, a dialogue between the two characters generally follows. [29]

Protagonists

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. [30] In most English versions, the narrator is often the unnamed male protagonist.[ citation needed ]

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".[ citation needed ]

Symbolism and parallels

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. [31] This motif is paralleled in several ballads including "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet", "Lord Lovel", and "Fair Margaret and Sweet William". [30] [9] 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. [9]

Melody

A vast array of tunes were traditionally used for "Barbara Allen". Many American versions are pentatonic and without a clear tonic note, [9] 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. [32] 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 the 1930s can be heard on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website, [33] and Ewan MacColl recorded a version learned from his mother Betsy Miller. [34] 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. [9]

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. [35] Quilter later incorporated the setting in his Arnold Book of Old Songs , rededicated to his late nephew Arnold Guy Vivian, and published in 1950. [36]

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. [37] British composer Florence Margaret Spencer Palmer published Variations on Barbara Allen for piano in 1923. [38]

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan Joan Baez Bob Dylan.jpg
Joan Baez and Bob Dylan

Versions of 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. [39] 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 . [40]

Simon and Garfunkel Simon and Garfunkel 1968.jpg
Simon and Garfunkel

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", [41] and by Art Garfunkel alone in 1973 on his album Angel Clare .

June Tabor, the English folk singer covers the song on her 2001 album Rosa Mundi stripping the song back to a piano and cello accompaniment. [42] Angelo Branduardi covered this song as Barbrie Allen resp. Barbriallen on his two music albums Cosi e se mi pare – EP [43] " and Il Rovo e la rosa [44] in Italian. On his French EN FRANÇAIS – BEST OF compilation in 2015 he sang this song in French-adaption written by Carla Bruni. [45] [46]

English singer-songwriter Frank Turner often covers the song a cappella during live performances. One rendition is included on the compilation album The Second Three Years . [47]

UK folk duo Nancy Kerr & James Fagan included the song on their 2005 album Strands of Gold, [48] and also on their 2019 live album An Evening With Nancy Kerr & James Fagan. [49] [50]

The song has been adapted and retold in numerous non-musical contexts. In 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"." [51] 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 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 [52] and premiered on BBC Radio 7 on 16 February 2009. [53] In The Hunger Games prequel novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, characters from 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:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Randall</span> Traditional song

"Lord Randall", or "Lord Randal", is an Anglo-Scottish border ballad consisting of dialogue between a young Lord and his mother. Similar ballads can be found across Europe in many languages, including Danish, German, Magyar, Irish, Swedish, and Wendish. Italian variants are usually titled "L'avvelenato" or "Il testamento dell'avvelenato", the earliest known version being a 1629 setting by Camillo il Bianchino, in Verona. Under the title "Croodlin Doo" Robert Chambers published a version in his "Scottish Ballads" (1829) page 324.

"Lily of the West" is a traditional British and Irish folk song, best known today as an American folk song, listed as number 957 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The American version is about a man who travels to Louisville and falls in love with a woman named Mary, Flora or Molly, the eponymous Lily of the West. He catches Mary being unfaithful to him, and, in a fit of rage, stabs the man she is with, and is subsequently imprisoned. In spite of this, he finds himself still in love with her. In the original version, the Lily testifies in his defense and he is freed, though they do not resume their relationship.

"The Daemon Lover" – also known as "James Harris", "A Warning for Married Women", "The Distressed Ship Carpenter", "James Herries", "The Carpenter’s Wife", "The Banks of Italy", or "The House-Carpenter" – is a popular ballad dating from the mid-seventeenth century, when the earliest known broadside version of the ballad was entered in the Stationers' Register on 21 February 1657.

"Foggy Dew" or "Foggy, Foggy Dew" is an English folk song with a strong presence in the South of England and the Southern United States in the nineteenth century. The song describes the outcome of an affair between a weaver and a girl he courted. It is cataloged as Laws No. O03 and Roud Folk Song Index No. 558. It has been recorded by many traditional singers including Harry Cox, and a diverse range of musicians including Benjamin Britten, Burl Ives, A.L. Lloyd and Ye Vagabonds have arranged and recorded popular versions of the song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matty Groves</span> Traditional English ballad

"Matty Groves", also known as "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" or "Little Musgrave", is a ballad probably originating in Northern England that describes an adulterous tryst between a young man and a noblewoman that is ended when the woman's husband discovers and kills them. It is listed as Child ballad number 81 and number 52 in the Roud Folk Song Index. This song exists in many textual variants and has several variant names. The song dates to at least 1613, and under the title Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard is one of the Child ballads collected by 19th-century American scholar Francis James Child.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Raggle Taggle Gypsy</span> Traditional folk song

"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy" (Roud 1, Child 200), is a traditional folk song that originated as a Scottish border ballad, and has been popular throughout Britain, Ireland and North America. It concerns a rich lady who runs off to join the gypsies (or one gypsy). Common alternative names are "Gypsy Davy", "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies O", "The Gypsy Laddie(s)", "Black Jack David" (or "Davy") and "Seven Yellow Gypsies".

"The Wild Rover" is a very popular and well-travelled folk song. Many territories have laid claim to having the original version.

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadside Index and a "field-recording index" compiled by Roud. It subsumes all the previous printed sources known to Francis James Child and includes recordings from 1900 to 1975. Until early 2006, the index was available by a CD subscription; now it can be found online on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website, maintained by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS). A partial list is also available at List of folk songs by Roud number.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Twa Sisters</span> Traditional song

"The Twa Sisters" is a traditional murder ballad, dating at least as far back as the mid 17th century. The song recounts the tale of a girl drowned by her jealous sister. At least 21 English variants exist under several names, including "Minnorie" or "Binnorie", "The Cruel Sister", "The Wind and Rain", "Dreadful Wind and Rain", "Two Sisters", "The Bonny Swans" and the "Bonnie Bows of London". The ballad was collected by renowned folklorist Francis J. Child as Child Ballad 10 and is also listed in the Roud Folk Song Index ., Whilst the song is thought to originate somewhere around England or Scotland, extremely similar songs have been found throughout Europe, particularly in Scandinavia.

"Geordie" is an English language folk song concerning the trial of the eponymous hero whose lover pleads for his life. It is listed as Child ballad 209 and Number 90 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The ballad was traditionally sung across the English speaking world, particularly in England, Scotland and North America, and was performed with many different melodies and lyrics. In recent times, popular versions have been performed and recorded by numerous artists and groups in different languages, mostly inspired by Joan Baez's 1962 recording based on a traditional version from Somerset, England.

"Young Beichan", also known as "Lord Bateman", "Lord Bakeman", "Lord Baker", "Young Bicham" and "Young Bekie", is a traditional folk ballad categorised as Child ballad 53 and Roud 40. The earliest versions date from the late 18th century, but it is probably older, with clear parallels in ballads and folktales across Europe. The song was popular as a broadside ballad in the nineteenth century, and survived well into the twentieth century in the oral tradition in rural areas of most English speaking parts of the world, particularly in England, Scotland and Appalachia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Thomas and Fair Annet</span> Traditional song

"Lord Thomas and Fair Annet", also known as "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor", is an English folk ballad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair Margaret and Sweet William</span> Traditional song

"Fair Margaret and Sweet William" is a traditional English ballad which tells of two lovers, of whom either one or both die from heartbreak. Thomas Percy included it in his folio and said that it was quoted as early as 1611 in the Knight of the Burning Pestle. In the United States, variations of Fair Margaret have been regarded as folk song as early as 1823.

The Farmer's Curst Wife is a traditional English language folk song listed as Child ballad number 278 and number 160 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

"The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter" is an English ballad, collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad 110 and listed as number 67 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

"Riddles Wisely Expounded" is a traditional English song, dating at least to 1450. It is Child Ballad 1 and Roud 161, and exists in several variants. The first known tune was attached to it in 1719. The title "Riddles Wisely Expounded" was given by Francis James Child and seems derived from the seventeenth century broadside version "A Noble Riddle Wisely Expounded".

"Edward" is a traditional murder ballad existing in several variants, categorised by Francis James Child as Child Ballad number 13 and listed as number 200 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The ballad, which is at least 250 years old, has been documented and recorded numerous times across the English speaking world into the twentieth century.

"Babylon" or "The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" is Child ballad 14, Roud 27.

Mr. Motherwell gives a version under the title of Babylon; or, the Bonny Banks o' Fordie; and Mr. Kinloch gives another under the title of The Duke of Perth's Three Daughters. Previous editors have attempted to find a local habitation for this tradition, and have associated it with the family of Drummond, of Perth. As a legend exactly similar is current in Denmark. this appears a bootless quest.

"The Trees They Grow So High" is a Scottish folk song. The song is known by many titles, including "The Trees They Do Grow High", "Daily Growing", "Long A-Growing" and "Lady Mary Ann".

Phil Tanner was a traditional singer from Llangenith in the Gower Peninsula.

References

  1. Raph, Theodore (1 October 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 (1 March 1999), pg. 112.
  3. 1 2 "Late Junction: Never heard of Barbara Allen? The world's most collected ballad has been around for 450 years". BBC Radio 3 . Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  4. 1 2 Roud, Steve & Julia Bishop (2012). The New Penguin Book of Folk Songs. Penguin. pp. 406–7. ISBN   978-0-141-19461-5.
  5. 1 2 Coffin, Tristram P. (1950). The British Traditional Ballad in North America. Philadelphia, PA: The American Folklore Society. pp. 87–90.
  6. Keefer, Jane (2011). "Barbara/Barbry Allen". Ibiblio. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  7. 1 2 Child, Francis James (1965). The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Vol. 2. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 276–9.
  8. Pepys, Samuel. Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 41: January/February 1665–66. Project Gutenberg. Pepys – Diary – Vol 41
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Versions and Variants of the Tunes of "Barbara Allen"" (PDF). Library of Congress .
  10. "Barbara Allen, Hob.XXXIa:11 (Haydn, Joseph) – IMSLP: Free Sheet Music PDF Download". imslp.org. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  11. "Folksong Arrangements by Haydn / Folksong Arrangements by Haydn and Beethoven / Programmes / Home – Trio van Beethoven". www.triovanbeethoven.at. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  12. "The Caledonian Pocket Companion (Oswald, James) – IMSLP: Free Sheet Music PDF Download". imslp.org. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  13. "English Short-title Catalogue, "Barbara Allen's cruelty: or, the young-man's tragedy."". British Library. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  14. Ramsay, Allan (1740). "The tea-table miscellany: or, a collection of choice songs, Scots and English. In four volumes. The tenth edition". Internet Archive. pp. 343–4. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  15. Percy, Thomas (1 December 2018). "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: Consisting of Old Heroic Ballads, Songs, and Other Pieces of Our Earlier Poets; Together with Some Few of Later Date". F.C. and J. Rivington via Google Books.
  16. Post, Jennifer (2004). Music in Rural New England. Lebanon, NH: University of New Hampshire Press. pp. 27–9. ISBN   1-58465-415-5.
  17. "Search: "RN54 sound"". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
  18. "Percy Grainger's collection of ethnographic wax cylinders". British Library. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  19. "Barbara Ellen – Percy Grainger ethnographic wax cylinders – World and traditional music | British Library – Sounds". sounds.bl.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  20. "Barbara Allen (Roud Folksong Index S228281)". The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  21. "Barbara Allen (Roud Folksong Index S136912)". The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  22. "Barbara Allen (Roud Folksong Index S339062)". The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  23. "Barbara Allen (Roud Folksong Index S168428)". The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  24. "Barbry Ellen (Roud Folksong Index S415160)". The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  25. "Barbara Allen / Barbary Allen / Barbary Ellen (Roud 54; Child 84; G/D 6:1193; Henry H236)". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  26. A Booklet of Essays, Appreciations, and Annotations Pertaining to the Anthology of American Folk Music Edited by Harry Smith. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 1997. pp. 30–31, sidebar featuring story told by Lucy Sante.
  27. "The Ballad of Barbara Allen by Anonymous". PoetryFoundation.org. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  28. "Bonny Barbara Allan, Traditional Ballads, English Poetry I: from Chaucer to Gray". Bartleby.com . Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  29. Sauer, Michelle (2008). The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry Before 1600. Infobase Publishing. p. 72. ISBN   9781438108346 . Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  30. 1 2 Coffin, Tristram P. (1950). The British Traditional Ballad in North America. Philadelphia: The American Folklore Society. pp. 76–9, 87–90.
  31. 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.
  32. "(69) Page 27 – Barbara Allan – Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed music > Composite music volume > Caledonian pocket companion – Special collections of printed music – National Library of Scotland". digital.nls.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  33. "Bonnie Barbara Allan (VWML Song Index SN23862)". The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  34. "Bawbee Allan (Child 84) (1966) – Ewan MacColl". YouTube.
  35. Langfield, Valerie (1 December 2018). Roger Quilter: His Life and Music. Boydell Press. ISBN   9780851158716 via Google Books.
  36. Web(UK), Music on the. "Roger QUILTER Folk-songs and Part-songs NAXOS 8.557495 [AO]: Classical CD Reviews- June 2005 MusicWeb-International". www.musicweb-international.com.
  37. "Browse All Recordings | Barbara Allen, Take 4 (1922-04-05) | National Jukebox". Loc.gov. 5 April 1922. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  38. Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Books & Music (USA). ISBN   978-0-9617485-1-7.
  39. Wilentz, Sean; Marcus, Greil, eds. (2005). The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad. New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 13–4.
  40. Wilentz & Marcus 2005, p. 14-15.
  41. "The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970) – The Official Simon & Garfunkel Site". Simonandgarfunkel.com. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  42. "Barbara Allen / Barbary Allen / Barbary Ellen". Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music.
  43. "Angelo Branduardi – Cosi È Se Mi Pare". Angelobranduardi.it. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  44. Michele Laurent. "IL ROVO E LA ROSA Angelo Branduardi". Angelobranduardi.it. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  45. "En français – Best Of – Angelo Branduardi". Wmgartists.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  46. "Angelo Branduardi – Best Of En Français (CD, Compilation)". Discogs .
  47. "The Second Three Years | Frank Turner". frank-turner.com. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  48. "Nancy Kerr & James Fagan – Strands of Gold". www.discogs.com. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  49. "An Evening With Nancy Kerr & James Fagan". www.kerrfagan.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  50. "Nancy Kerr & James Fagan:An Evening With – Folk Radio". www.folkradio.co.uk. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  51. Howard, Robert E. (2007). The Best of Robert E. Howard. Volume 1: Crimson Shadows. Del Rey Books. pp. 249–55. ISBN   978-0-345-49018-6.
  52. "Barabara Allen by David Pownall". Radio Drama Reviews.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  53. "David Pownall – Barbara Allen broadcast history". BBC Online . Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  54. An episode of the PBS TV series The American Short Story . A full version of the song is performed in this adaptation of an Ambrose Bierce story of the American Civil War.
  55. "Travolta Sings For 'Bobby Long'". Billboard. 29 December 2004. Retrieved 6 February 2016.