Here we have one contributor who learnt his ballads whilst very young and was recorded late in life. He was obviously a gifted person with a very good memory and in this case a very reliable source, but not all contributors of songs and ballads fall into that category.

Then of course there are those collectors who deliberately distort the information given, but that's another issue entirely.

Yes 'Lord Bakeman' is in my FMNS but I skipped it because it's a burlesque, not a serious version.

Both these versions of Barbara Allen are in Child, the 'strange' one being the Scottish version. My own theory here is this is the ballad referred to by Pepys as 'the little Scotch ballad' he heard at the theatre and the 'Reading/Scarlet' version I think could have been a burlesque of this.

Jonathan, I do have Norm's article, thanks.