Simon & Garfunkel - Barbriallen Lyrics






It was in the merry month of May
When green bugs were a-swelling
Sweet William on his death bed lay
For the love of Barbriallen

He sent his servant to the town
The place where she'd been dwelling
Say master dear has sent me here
If your name be Barbriallen

And slowly, slowly she got up
And slowly she went to him
And all she said when she got there
Young man I think you are dying

Oh, don't you remember the other day
When we where in a tavern
You drank your health to the ladies there
And you slided Barbriallen

He turned his face unto the wall
He turned his back upon her
Adieu, adieu to all my friends
Be kind to Barbriallen

She looked to the east, she looked to the west
She saw his corpse a-coming
Oh, put him down for me she cried
That I may gaze upon him

The more she looked, the more she grieved
She bursted it out in crying
Oh, pick me up and carry me home
For I feel like I am dying

They buried sweet Willy in the old church yard
And Barbara in the new one
From Willy's grave there grew a rose
From Barbara's a green briar

They grew and they grew on the old church wall
And could not grow no higher
And there they tied in a true love's knot
The rose bush and the briar.





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Simon & Garfunkel Barbriallen Comments
  1. A.... F....

    Art Gunfunkel did his own version of this beautiful song,, a "must" listen,, find it and listen

  2. G.... C....

    Simon and Garfunkel. I'm caught in a time warp...Never wanna leave...

  3. K.... S....

    It was in the merry month of May
    When green bugs were a-swelling
    Sweet William on his death bed lay
    For the love of Barbriallen
    He sent his servant to the town
    The place where she'd been dwelling
    Say master dear has sent me here
    If your name be Barbriallen
    And slowly, slowly she got up
    And slowly she went to him
    And all she said when she got there
    "Young man, I think you are dying"
    Oh, don't you remember the other day
    When we where in a tavern?
    You drank, your health to the ladies there
    And you slided Barbriallen
    He turned his face unto the wall
    He turned his back upon her
    Adieu, adieu to all my friends
    Be kind to Barbriallen
    She looked to the east, she looked to the west
    She saw his corpse a-coming
    "Oh, put him down for me", she cried
    "That I may gaze upon him"
    The more she looked, the more she grieved
    She busted out in crying
    Oh, pick me up and carry me home
    For I feel like I am dying
    They buried sweet Willy in the old church yard
    And Barbara in the new one
    From Willy's grave there grew a rose
    From Barbara's a green briar
    They grew and they grew on the old church wall
    And could not grow no higher
    And there they tied in a true love's knot
    The rose bush and the briar

  4. J.... S....

    Their early songs inspired by British folk that has a near-medieval charm to it...that's the best stuff in the world

    J.... S....

    This was one of the last things they recorded together, IIRC.

  5. e.... v....

    too slowly...slowly slowly TOO SLOWLY...!

  6. C.... P....

    Art Garfunkel also did a version of Barbara Allen on his solo Album, Angel Claire.

  7. T.... S....

    I love Simon an Garfunkel

  8. j.... b....

    great version, but i think the cover by the everly brothers is even better....

    j.... b....

    john blahuta ababaraalle Barbara allen

    j.... b....

    I agree

  9. W.... L....

    I love this version of Barbara Allen. So poignant.

  10. k.... ....

    Sounds like a Dulcimer being played, I've got one but can't play it! Great song. Thank you!

  11. J.... B....

    The Everly Brothers did a beautiful version of this song. I have never heard S&G do this. This is a lovely version as well!

  12. S.... N....

    i cant believe i never heard this before today.

  13. A.... L....

    Them busking days in London as the Everley Brothers sure paid off , love S & G , best bar none

  14. D.... B....

    Artie does a real nice dramatic version of this one...on Angel Clare

    D.... B....

    I didn't know this version. I knew Artie's on Angel Clare

  15. j.... c....

    Good GOD this is a sad song.

  16. D.... s....

    such sadness and love

  17. H.... F....

    Sounds like the Everly Brothers.

    H.... F....

    Yes and isn't that a shame, Harvey ? They have (had) a beautiful way and manner of their own music. I don't get the reasoning of trying to copy the Everly Bros. Simon I have heard was an Everly freak. 
    Peace and happiness !

    H.... F....

    @Maggie Reeves
    I see it as paying a tribute to the Everly Bros. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel did it, singing Bye-bye love and Wake Up Little Susie. It is well done when peolple remembers and recognizes their inspiration.  

    H.... F....

    @Maggie Reeves , Well Maggie, when S & G the started out in their early teens as Tom and Jerry, the Everly Brothers were the greatest harmonizers in pop music and they spent a great deal of effort trying to learn similar harmonies. They even had a minor hit, at age 15, called Hey Schoolgirl which sounds a great deal like an Everly Brothers song. There is no special reasoning here, as any young artist bases his or her style on what he or she knows and likes. Some artists never get beyond that simple imitation stage and are never more than a cover artist. Others evolve and grow and adopt additional influences. Even as a solo artist, Garfunkel's signature style never evolved much, but Simon's evolved considerably from the 50's through to today keeping core sensibilities but adding new twists.

  18. M.... R....

    Simon should not be given any credit  for this piece.

    M.... R....

    @Lloyd Edgar
     My first impression was, just ask.
    Simon gets a lot of credit he did not wright And I do mean a lot.
    You didn't tell me what ffs stands for.

    M.... R....

    Well I do like ffs.. Thanks

    M.... R....

    @Maggie Reeves It's a folk song. Folk songs are sung over many generations. There's no copyright on them. He's not trying to take any credit for anything. Bob Dylan did the same thing, recording folk songs that he didn't write. A lot of musicians do.

    M.... R....

    @Maggie Reeves ... Maggie has a dislike for Paul Simon for reasons that are not clear (by her own admission in another thread, even she doesn't know why), and she had interesting comments on Paul Simon pages. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

    Maggie, for what it's worth (not much) the publisher lists Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel as writers of this song but that of course refers to the contemporary rewrite. The original Scottish folk song is known from at least 1666. The original writer is, of course, unknown and there is no copyright. Rewrites and adaptations have occurred many times by many people over the centuries, and most likely nobody has made much money for it and nobody should be losing sleep over it. Normally such tunes are identified in liner notes as adaptations of "traditional" songs. See, for example, El Condor Pasa.

    As for your observation that Paul Simon gets lots of writing credit, that's because that's what happens when you are one of the most prolific and successful music writers of your day. You said he "gets a lot of credit he did not wright (sic) And I do mean a lot". I would call that a transparently false assertion unless you can demonstrate otherwise and not by one or two random anecdotes. When you have a body of work as large as his you are bound to run across the occasional person who thinks he got shorted on credit for one obscure song or another, but that doesn't make it true nor terribly pertinent to the entirety of the body of work in question.

    M.... R....

    @Existential Squid , True. In fact according to wikipedia Bod 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.

  19. S.... C....

    There is a hidden Message inside this Song! it's about a man who found True Divine Love!

  20. G.... R....

    I love this song
    I Love you for up it on YT!

  21. K.... M....

    better yet, @johntaylor, why are u hogging the entire page. others have a say, too, buddy.

  22. J.... T....

    The Angles and Saxons began to increasingly raid and settle the southern and eastern coast of Britain and in the north their initial settlement somewhere along the Tyne gradually developed into the Anglo Saxon kingdom of Bernicia. This kingdom and its people slowly expanded northward towards Bamburgh and Edinburgh where they considerably influenced the language and customs of Scotland. Later Bernicia expanded south towards the River Humber until it ultimately developed into a great kingdom

  23. J.... T....

    A ninth century document entitled the Historia Brittonum records that the Ancient British king called Vortigern despatched forty keels (boats) of Anglo-Saxons under Ochta and Ebissa to fight the Picts in return for land `in the North by the Wall'. If this is true then some of the very earliest Anglo-Saxon settlements in Britain were in the Wall Country. The granted land may well have been somewhere in the area we now call Tyneside. lowlands of scotland

  24. J.... T....

    In the 16th century, the language of the Scottish Lowlands, including the towns and royal court, was Scots; it was closely related to contemporary English. Since Scottish Lowlanders spoke a very similar language to the English and historically had had similar cultural influences, as well as varying degrees of contact with England, 16th century Scottish Lowland names were very similar in general to 16th century English names

  25. J.... T....

    northern english and lowland scots . border reivers of which my dad is one one. anglo saxon

  26. J.... T....

    An estimated 90% of Appalachia's earliest European settlers originated from the Anglo-Scottish border country— namely the English counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland, Durham, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, and the Lowland Scottish counties of Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire, Roxburghshire, Berwickshire, and Wigtownshire. Most of these were from families who had been resettled in the Ulster Plantation in northern Ireland in the 17th century

  27. J.... T....

    The "British tenants",[4] a term applied to the colonists,[5] were mostly from Scotland and England. They were required to be English-speaking and Protestant.[6] The Scottish colonists were mostly Presbyterian[4] and the English mostly members of the Church of England. The Plantation of Ulster was the biggest of the Plantations of Ireland. Ulster was colonised to prevent further rebellion, as it had been the region most resistant to English control during the preceding century.

  28. J.... T....

    why are you so anti british ... when in fact you have british heritage. in my eyes you have become yet another anti british american .. here's to another 9/11 and boston bomb . fingers crossed

  29. J.... T....

    oday, Scotch-Irish is an Americanism almost unknown in England, Ireland or Scotland. The term is somewhat unclear because some of the Scotch-Irish have little or no Scottish ancestry at all, as a large number of dissenter families had also been transplanted to Ulster from northern England. Smaller numbers of migrants also came from the southeast of England,

  30. J.... T....

    Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic

  31. J.... T....

    Bernicia (Old English: Bernice, Beornice; Latin: Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.

  32. J.... T....

    its not difficult to look up ... but, you sound like one of those american's who is desperate to be irish

  33. J.... T....

    a couple of basics for you, the scotch irish originally came from the lowlands of scotland and northern england, they were the descendants of angle settlers to the lowland's of scotland and northern england

  34. J.... T....

    absolute fucking bollocks

  35. Q.... ....

    It's what happened to them after they got to America that matters to Americans. Sorry, you've become irrelevant.

  36. Q.... ....

    I take that back. I wrote the UK, and I meant the UK. Because you have a chip on your shoulder, you misinterpreted what I wrote. You imposed your own defensive, hostile perspective instead of properly comprehending what I wrote.

  37. Q.... ....

    If you want to come off as an expert, it will require more than cutting and pasting out of context material that's missing the complexities and entire populations of earlier immigrants to this continent, at least to those of us educated in American history you'll need to do better. You do not know enough of the detailed specifics to pull it off. Or, you could just accept that American cultural subgroups are not yours to define and let people be.

  38. Q.... ....

    It's older than that.

  39. Q.... ....

    had more than a little to do with the violent culture of this country from its beginning. From there they spread into the other regions. BTW, "Irish Catholics" have nothing to do with what I know about American history and my own ancestry. The Irish Catholic history is not mine. Perhaps it is you who are ignorant about American culture, and ignorant as to the meanings of our language/labels to us and among us. Your posts are English/British-centric, which is meaningless in this context.

    Q.... ....

    I thought I was listening to a great piece of music. You all have to make it political! Just come and live here and then you can comment!

  40. Q.... ....

    , but then they discovered they were going to be treated like dirt too! Go figure! After close to a century of it, a steady stream started emigrating to "the new world" because they were fed up with the English mistreatment. Most of them, the earliest, started out in the Carolinas. Here they could become plantation owners and force the English to contend with them as equals. With their warring culture, anger toward the English, and slave ownership, they along with our English ancestors...

  41. Q.... ....

    My Scots-Irish ancestors were on this continent in the 16th century. Scots-Irish started coming here far ahead of the others, and a good 100 years before most of the Irish (although not all, because I also have Irish ancestors that were here in the 1700s. The bulk of the Irish, though, were pouring in the mid-1800s). They, the Scots, left because their ancestors had emigrated to Ireland when the English, treating the Irish like dirt, gave their land to the Scots they wanted settled there,...

  42. Q.... ....

    Depending on how far you want to go, and which historians/archeologists you want to read, there is argument as to whether the Scots were entirely a different tribe from the Irish. It doesn't seem obvious because there are so many differences, but some have argued that traced back far enough, the originated from the same people. At any rate, again, I don't see why you have your panties in a twist. I wrote that I believe the song originated with the Scots-Irish. They originated in Scotland.

  43. Q.... ....

    "Your" approving or not.

  44. Q.... ....

    I do not know what you insist on arguing that point. It is irrelevant to American descendents of what Americans call the Scots-Irish. We know of our own ancestry and our own culture. You're approving of it is irrelevant to us because it is not your culture or your history.

  45. Q.... ....

    Scots were given land in Ireland by the English and encouraged to settle there. Those who migrated to Ireland had children and they had children. The children born in Ireland considered themselves Irish at least to some degree, just like the Orange Irish still do, so the Catholics and Protestants, the British loyalists and the Irish loyalists, are still fighting. All of them consider themselves Irish.

  46. Q.... ....

    And I've got news for you, as ignorant as many Americans are about other nations, there are loads of ignoramuses among the British too. They're everywhere. At least Americans have the excuse that they are far away, and until recently, because of sheer size the U.S, remained largely independent of the rest of the world, functioning fine without knowing that much about others. Europe is made up of small countries highly affected by what each of them and the U.S. does. You had to know more.

  47. Q.... ....

    You've provided a good deal of interesting and valuable information, most of which is not new to me. I do not disagree with most of it. I do disagree with your bigotry, hostile anger, and name calling as none of it is necessary, valuable, or appealing in the slightest. And you are wrong; I did and do know what British means and the makeup. You left one out. If I used the wrong terminology, who cares? Get over yourself.

  48. J.... T....

    you need a good read of albion's seed . and not this fucking bollocks you have picked up from irish catholic american's ... by the way BRITISH = ENGLAND SCOTLAND WALES ... you didn't even know that . typical american.

  49. J.... T....

    Both in the USA and in England clog dancing was also known as "buck and wing" dancing. The "wing" referred to is the step where a foot is kicked out to one side, striking the ground as it goes.

  50. J.... T....

    In later periods it was not always called "clogging", being known variously as flatfooting, foot-stomping, buck dancing, clog dancing, jigging, or other local terms. What all these had in common was emphasizing the downbeat of the music by enthusiastic footwork

  51. J.... T....

    The dance has origins in England. In the fifteenth century the all-wooden clog was replaced by a leather-topped shoe with a one-piece wooden bottom. By the 16th century a more conventional leather shoe with separate wooden pieces on the heel and toe called "flats" became popular, from where the terms "heel and toe" and "flatfooting" derive.

  52. J.... T....

    rather than the Highlands, of Scotland, as the country from which they originally migrated. For the Appalachian tunes...have far more affinity with the normal English folk-tune than with that of the Gaelic-speaking Highlander

  53. J.... T....

    The border origin of the Scotch-Irish is supported by study of the traditional music and folklore of the Appalachian Mountains, settled primarily by the Scotch-Irish in the 18th century. Musicologist Cecil Sharp collected hundreds of folk songs in the region, and observed that the musical tradition of the people "seems to point to the North of England, or to the Lowlands

  54. J.... T....

    all anglo saxon .. neither gaelic , celtic or irish. barbara allen is a lowland scottish , english folk song

  55. J.... T....

    but some came directly from the Anglo-Scottish border region. In America, these people are often grouped under the single name "Scotch-Irish" or "Scots-Irish". While various 20th-century writers tried to associate Appalachia with Scottish highlanders, Highland Scots were a relatively insignificant percentage of the region's early European immigrants

  56. J.... T....

    An estimated 90% of Appalachia's earliest European settlers originated from the Anglo-Scottish border country— namely the English counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland, Durham, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, and the Lowland Scottish counties of Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire, Roxburghshire, Berwickshire, and Wigtownshire. Most of these were from families who had been resettled in the Ulster Plantation in northern Ireland in the 17th century

  57. J.... T....

    the scotch irish were never irish in the first place fool . they were never gaelic or celtic but anglo saxons ... they came from the lowlands or border region of scotland and england ... they were granted lands in ulster . it had nothing to do with being treated like surfs or oppression . the culture of appalachia comes from the anglo saxon border region of scotland and england

  58. J.... T....

    Bernicia (Old English: Bernice, Beornice; Latin: Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.

  59. J.... T....

    now lets have a look at who the lowland scots were ... because these scots planters to ulster were from the lowlands of scotland.

  60. J.... T....

    Today, Scotch-Irish is an Americanism almost unknown in England, Ireland or Scotland. The term is somewhat unclear because some of the Scotch-Irish have little or no Scottish ancestry at all, as a large number of dissenter families had also been transplanted to Ulster from northern England. Smaller numbers of migrants also came from the southeast of England .... im only conentrating on the lowland scots and the english

  61. J.... T....

    Scotch-Irish (or Scots-Irish) Americans are the descendants of Presbyterian and other Protestant dissenters from the Irish province of Ulster who migrated to North America during the 18th and 19th centuries. Most of the Scotch-Irish were descended from Scottish and English families who colonized Ireland during the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century

  62. J.... T....

    another thick american ... one of a long line

  63. J.... T....

    where did the scotch irish come from before they settled in ulster

  64. J.... T....

    scots irish are decendants of the irish descendants of the scots .. could you explain that to me a little bit more clearly

  65. Q.... ....

    So what?

  66. Q.... ....

    The Scots-Irish emigrating to the new world and the colonies arrived from Ireland, thus they were called Scots-Irish here. Barbara Allen is the oldest documented folk song brought to this continent from Europe, and it was brought here and passed down by the Scots-Irish and their descendents. It is American history, not European, thus, your history is irrelevant, as is your misplaced sense of superiority.

  67. Q.... ....

    Scots-Irish are descendents of the Irish descendents of the Scots that the Brits foisted on the Irish. After growing sick of being treated like serfs deserving of oppression just like the original Irish were, they started heading to "the new world" more than 100 years before the bulk of the Irish Catholics arrived mid- in the 1800s. The Scots-Irish were Protestants btw. They and the English settled the early Carolinas well before the revolutionary war, into the Appalachians, then the Ozarks.

  68. Q.... ....

    I'm not sure why you feel the need to be insulting and childish. Nevertheless I'll explain since you are ignorant of cultures beyond your own. Subcultural groups in America exist in the states regardless of whether they were considered to be part of that culture or had a specific name in Europe. You see, contrary to what the English believed, and you still do, the world existed and exists beyond the UK.

  69. J.... T....

    there was no such people as the scotch irish before they got to america

  70. J.... T....

    this an old english, lowland scottish ballad . nothing to do with anything irish. this isnt anything to do with gaelic highlanders or the irish gaelic. the term scotch irish which is only used in america is just a ridiculous name for people who were never irish in the first place. the lowland scots were never gaelic or celtic or anything to do with the irish... americans take on history is just laughable

  71. Q.... ....

    Thank you for posting this.

  72. Q.... ....

    I like anything by these two together, but this is not a great interpretation of the song. Perhaps it was because of their youth, but the focus is on the harmony, not the story. Their version is missing the emotional anguish, regret, sadness and so forth; and it is missing the emotional tonality of the traditional Scots-Irish hill people's singing. This song was brought to the U.S. by the Scots-Irish before the Revolutionary War.

  73. G.... R....

    I really love this song!
    I can not explain, has a tune, and I'm afraid, but it's my favorite song, makes me want to cry and live, I do not know ...

  74. J.... b....

    NOPE!!! they covered it too, but there version is bareley over 2 min.

  75. E.... B....

    It IS possible, I guess, but if so they are using an interval for the harmony that I've never heard them use.

  76. C.... B....

    Thank you for this!

  77. T.... ....

    Dudes. It IS the Everly Brothers!

  78. F.... D....

    is this the most covered traditional English folk song ever ????/

  79. m.... e....

    I have loved this song for years sooooo glad you posed it thank you!!! <3

  80. B.... Y....

    I was named for this song Barbara Ellen

  81. D.... N....

    They sound kinda like Mr. Bob Dylan kinda. Love Paul and Art.

  82. k.... ....

    I can hear these two sing all day!

  83. s.... ....

    Absolute copy of the Everly Brothers Version on "Songs our Daddy Taught Us" - word for word, harmony for harmony - well i guess a total copy is a tribute.

  84. g.... ....

    it's cool. i love this song.
    P.S.
    i hate people. people suck.

  85. g.... ....

    i like it. i like old versions becuase re-mixs suck

  86. T.... M....

    That was beautiful, sophisticated and not at all unfinished, we just got lucky they made the demo. thanks for posting this

  87. W.... ....

    I think it can be very valuable if people interpret songs very different then their writers, this can lead to very different versions, and potentially brilliant ones. Songs are, imho, to evolve, not to be repeated forever in similar ways. (Although I completely agree on the jonas brothers, though i doubt they did it themselves)

  88. b.... ....

    Simon and Garfunkel slaughtered this song as did Bob Dylan...they are both talented performers as well as topnotch songwriters but they should not attempt such songs as Barbara Allen

  89. s.... ....

    They created the best band ever...

  90. b.... ....

    Thank you for posting this, I had never heard it before. I think it is wonderful, but then I would get a thrill from hearing Simon and Garfunkel singing the telephone directory in their wonderful harmony.

  91. M.... t....

    c'est la version la plus "irish", simple et véridique.
    merci, Paul Simon, troubadour depuis toujours et merci à Art ................

  92. R.... ....

    Not that Simon and Garfunkel haven't made their mark on music. They did. But not by stylizing this song. They did it with their own original compositions.

  93. R.... ....

    Quite welcome, my friend. I don't mind a song being upgraded with a better voice, better musical instrumentation, etc. But to "stylize" a song by totally changing the sound of it just makes it a new song, but with the same lyrics. Leave the traditional songs alone. They are traditional because their original versions were what people loved. If you want to make your mark on music then write your own song and sing it.

  94. R.... ....

    I must agree. This does this great traditional song an injustice. I feel that Art Garfunkel's solo version is by far a more accutrate portrayal. And beautifully sung as well.

  95. s.... ....

    Bisolda is right. It's Paul Simon song. I know 'cause i'm inerested about it and I was reading book about Simon&Garfunkel and on my Cd is wririting that is song by Paul Simon.

  96. R.... ....

    Pull yourself together, hunni. ( And what has god got to do with it. ) If you will read my reply to Blisolda from 5 days ago you will see that I already acknowledged my mistake. Maybe instead of claiming god as yours you should search your fa........er.....read a little more.

  97. R.... ....

    Ah. Then please accept my apology for my mistake. But it is truly uncanny how much this sounds like the Everly Brothers version of this song. ( That was not a veiled hint, just a statement ).

  98. R.... ....

    Actually, this is being sung by the Everly Brothers. This is not Simon and Garfunkel.

  99. R.... ....

    How odd. I heard a version of Barbara Allen done solo by Art Garfunkel and it was the most beautiful version I have ever heard. But when he gets with Paul Simon, it seems he completely forgot the tune. This version had the words, but that was anything but " Barbara Allen ".