Francis James Child

Barbara Allen is a tragic love ballad that is believed to have origins in Scotland.  It was first printed in England in the 1700s but mentions of the song were written before then.  Samuel Pepys mentioned a woman's “little Scotch song of Barbary Allen,”  in a journal entry dated in 1666.

            This song is number 84 of the 305 Child Ballads. The Child Ballads are 305 ballads from England and Scotland Collected by Francis James Child, 1825-1896.   Child was a professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard College, but he was also gifted in math, history, and political economy. The Child Ballads were published in 10 volumes starting in 1882, and this collection is is considered to be the most thorough of all collections of this kind.

            Many versions of the song exist today.  It has been recorded by popular artists including Art Garfunkel, the Everly Brothers, Joan Baez, and Pete Seeger.