Barbara Allan The Cruel

From a Poets Box (Glasgow) broadside published in 1855 (University of Glasgow)

Barbara Allan the Cruel

This comic version of Barbara Allan, as sang by Messrs Lloyd, Cowell, etc, is now drawing crowded audiences at all the different theatres and concerts in the kingdom.

In Reading town a lad was born,
And a fair maid there was dwelling; 
So he picked her out to be his bride, 
And her name was Barbara Allan,
And her name was Barbara Allan.

'Twas in the merry month of May, 
When green leaves they were springing,
A young man on a sick bed lay
For the love of of Barbara Allan, 
For the love of of Barbara Allan

He sent to her his servant man,
To the place where she was dwelling; 
Now quickly to my master come,
If thy name be Barbara Allan, 
If thy name be Barbara Allan, 

So slowly, so slowly, she walked unto 
The bedside where he was lying
And when she looked into his face, 
Says she, Young man. you're dying, 
Says she, Young man. you're dying,

I see death painted in thy face 
All joy is gone quite from thee 
I cannot save thee from the grave, 
So farewell, my dearest Johnny 
So farewell, my dearest Johnny.

When she was gone he gave a grunt, 
In expression of his sorrow
In his will left Barbara all his blunt, 
And then he died to-morrow,
And then he died to-morrow.

As she was a-walking down the street,
She met his corpse a-coming;
Now set 'un down, my little brave boys
And let I gaze upon him, 
And let I gaze upon him.

The more she look'd, the more she laugh'd. 
The further she got from him,
Till all her friends, cried out for shame,
Cruel-hearted Barbara Allan
Cruel-hearted Barbara Allan

No wonder that the lady laughed
To see her true love fallen ; 
Of course she got another spark, 
This cruel Barbara Allan, 
This cruel Barbara Allan.

They buried him in the church porch, 
When she died laid her beside 'un, 
For she, wished to be his bride in death, 
Though in life she couldn't abide 'un, 
Though in life she couldn't abide 'un.

Steve Roud in his New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs suggests that Barbara Allan is the most widely collected traditional songs in the English language and goes back to around 1666. It was certainly well-known in the 19th century: it appeared in published collections of English ballads and was widely sung in respectable Ballad Concerts like the ones run by the publishers Boosey between 1867 and 1933. These polite versions of the old songs did meet with criticism and I can’t resist sharing this particularly robust comment regarding a performance organised by the London Glee and Madrigal Union in 1860:

Many of these older songs were performed as burlesques by comic singers in the mid 19th century – their history has been written about extensively by Steve Gardham. One of the better-known burlesques was Barbara Allan the cruel, famously sung by Sam Cowell, JL Toole and other performers in the song and supper rooms and early music halls of the 1860s. These comics regularly performed burlesques of serious ballads, drawing humour from the way they performed them and by modifying the content. The lyrics reproduced above are taken from a Scottish broadside, I had always assumed that the Lloyd referred to was the famous Arthur Lloyd but it turns out it was his father…