Barbara Allen

I decided to start with Barbara Allen because my mother sang it quite often when I was a child in the 1950s.

However, the song is much older.

There is some discussion about where the song actually originated, and there are many versions with different lyrics and melodies.

However, in all of the versions, there are similarities.

The earliest mention of the song was in a 1666 diary entry by Samuel Pepys in which he mentions a Mrs. Nip singing Barbara Allen.

If I've mispronounced either name, please forgive the error.

However, the song could have been much older and it is unknown whether the song or a variation of it was from England, Ireland, or Scotland.

A printed broadside was published in London in 1690 and in the United States in 1836.

The earliest recording was on a wax cylinder in Lincolnshire, England.

In the 1950s, Jean Ritchie had a Fulbright scholarship to England, Ireland, and Scotland.

She made some recordings of Barbara Allen in those countries.

In the book, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, which was copyrighted in 1917, there are six versions with varied lyrics and melodies.

One version is from William's point of view, with one verse sounding as if it is Barbara, and it explains why she would not comfort him.

Some were similar to the version my mother sang and did not explain why Barbara was so cruel to poor William.

In the version I'll play and sing, I am trying to get it as close to the way my mother sang it with the lyrics she sang, and I will provide the dulcimer tab, the notation, and the chords and lyrics that I use.

I'm including several other links.

The first one will be to an excellent blog that talks about the song.

There are several other links to singers performing the song, the oldest of which was recorded in 1938 and resides in the Library of Congress.

A link to a field recording from the University of Arkansas is included along with more modern recordings on YouTube.

In addition, I'm including links to Appalachian dulcimer tab arranged by Ron Zuckerman in DAD tuning and Steve Smith, both DAD and DAA tuning.

The tuning I will use for my tab is DAD but it is in the key of G rather than the key of D.

Since I sing this in the key of G, the first part will simply be the instrumentation, which requires some flat picking or finger picking if a person would choose that, and that will be in the key of G. but the tuning is DAD.

And then when I sing, it will be using chords and voice.

Keep in mind, I'm not a professional.