Barbara Allan

Roger McGuinn

The singer writes: "I remember seeing Joan Baez sing this at Club 47 in Cambridge MA in 1960. Samuel Pepys in his Diary under the date of January 2nd 1665, speaks of the singing of Barbara Allen. The English and Scottish both claim the original ballad in different versions, and both versions were brought over to the US by the earliest settlers. Since then there have been countless variations (some 98 are found in Virginia alone). The version used here is the English one. The tune is traditional." Part of the Raretunes Archive- see http://www.raretunes.org/recordings/barbara-allan/