Features - The Blue Toon Song Book

BARBARA ALLEN
Traditional as sung by Jane Turriff

I fell in love with a nice young girl
Her name was Barbara Allen
I fell in love with a nice young girl
Her name was Barbara Allen

Till I got sick and very ill
I sent for Barbara Allen
Till I got sick and very ill
I sent for Barbara Allen

It’s look ye up at my bed head
And see what ye’ll find hanging
A silver watch and a guinea gold chain
That hangs there for Barbara Allen
   That hangs there for Barbara Allen

It’s look ye doon at my bed side
And see what ye’ll find sitting
A basin full of my heart’s tears
That sits there for Barbara Allen
   That sits there for Barbara Allen

She pulled the curtains from the bed
And said young man you’re dying
She pulled the curtains from the bed
And said young man you’re dying

One kiss from you would do me good
One kiss from you would cure me
One kiss from me you shall not get
Though your poor heart lies breaking
   Though your poor heart lies breaking

She hadna gane a mile or twa
When she heard the church bells ringing
And every word they seemed to say
Cruel hearted Barbara Alle
   Cruel hearted Barbara Allen

Oh mother dear it’s make my bed
And make it long and narrow
For my poor lover died for me
And I’ll die for him tomorrow
   And I’ll die for her tomorrow

Her mother she has made her bed
And made it long and narrow
And laid her down to fall asleep
And she’s died for her true lover
   And she’s died for her true lover

Flagnote: The last song in the ‘Songs and Ballads’ collection is well-known on both sides of the Atlantic and has many variations. The earliest known reference to this song goes back to Englishman Samuel Pepys diary where he mentioned ‘the little Scotch song of Barbary Allen’. Another song I first learned at St Combs Primary School, Aberdeenshire, in the early 1950s, around the same time that Aberdeenshire traveller Jane Turriff was providing the Famous American folk collector Alan Lomax with some 150 songs.