The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #55254   Message #859609
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
06-Jan-03 - 04:07 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Barbara Allen / Barbry Ellen (C Hughes)
Subject: Lyr Add: BARBRY ELLEN (Queen Caroline Hughes)
Here at least is the song as noted by MacColl and Seeger.

BARBRY ELLEN

(Noted by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger from "Queen" Caroline Hughes, 1962/6)

O, in Reading Town where I was born,
There's a fair young lady dwelling;
I picked her out for to be my bride,
And her name was Barbry Ellen, Ellen,
And her name was Barbry Ellen.

Now, mother dear, you make up my bed,
You'll make it soft and easy;
That I might die for the sake of love,
And that she might die for sorrow, sorrow,
And that she might die for sorrow.

Now, mother dear, you'll look up over my head,
You'll see my gold watch standing;
There's my gold watch and my guinea gold ring,
Will you 'liver it to Barbry Ellen, Ellen?
Will you 'liver it to Barbry Ellen?

Now, mother dear, look at the side of my bed,
You'll see a bowl there standing,
It is full of tears that I've lost this night
For the loss of Barbry Ellen, Ellen,
For the loss of Barbry Ellen.

Now, as I were a-walking across the fields,
I met a corpse a-coming;
(O, you put down, my six young lambs) ¹
That I might well gaze on him, on him,
That I might well gaze on him.

While (strollily) I walkèd on, ²
I heard the (knell a-telling), ³
And as it tolled, O, it seemed to say:
"Hard-hearted Barbry Ellen, Ellen,
Hard-hearted Barbry Ellen!"

¹ (O, put him down, my six young lads)?
² (strollèd I, strolling there)?
³ (bell a-tolling)?

From Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland, University of Tennessee Press, 1977.

Child 84, Roud 54.

X:1
T:Barbry Ellen
S:"Queen" Caroline Hughes, 1962/6
Z:Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger
B:Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland, 1977
N:Child 84 Roud 54
N:First verse
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:6/4
K:F
C2 C2|A2 A2 A6 G2|F2 E2 D4 z2 CC|F2 A2 c6 B2|
w:O, in Read-ing Town where I was born, There's a fair young la-dy
A2 G3 z2 c2|d2 d2 c4 z2 FF|G2 F2 D4 z2 EF|G2 A2 G6 C2|
w:dwel-ling; I picked her out for to be my bride, and her name was Bar-bry
E2 F2 G2 c4 GA|B2 A2 G6 C2|E2 F4 z2|]
w:El-len, El-len, And her name was Bar-bry El-len.

X:2
T:Barbry Ellen
S:"Queen" Caroline Hughes, 1962/6
Z:Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger
B:Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland, 1977
N:Child 84 Roud 54
N:Tune variation with "most common" ending.
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:6/4
K:F
C2 C2|A2 A2 A6 G2|F2 E2 D4 z2 CC|F2 A2 c6 B2|
A2 G3 z2 c2|d2 d2 c6 GA|B2 c2 A4 z2 FG|A2 BA G6 C2|E2 F2 G2 A4 GA|
M:5/4
B2 A2 (G2 E2) C2|
M:6/4
C2 F4 z2|]

"Queen" Caroline Hughes (née Bateman) was born in 1900 in a horse-drawn caravan in Bere Regis, Dorset. She was a prolific and impressive singer, despite ill-health in later life; and a Traveller very much of the "old school". She was recorded during the 1960s by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, and by Peter Kennedy. On her death in 1971, she received a traditional Gypsy funeral; her caravan and all her possessions were burned.