CORRECT LYRICS

Lyrics : Barbara Ellen

'Twas early, early in the spring
When the rose buds they were swellin'
Young William on his?death?bed lay
All for?the love of Barbry Ellen

He sent?a servant to the town
To the town where she was dwellin'
Saying, "my master's sick, and he sends for you
If you be Barbry Ellen"

So slow, slowly she got up
And slowly she went to him
Though all she said when she got there
"Young man, I fear you're dying"

"Oh yes, I'm sick, I'm dreadful sick
I hear the dead wind tumbling
And no better, no better will I ever be
If I can't have Barbry Ellen"

"Well I remember that distant night
Down in the logwood tavern
You danced and sang with a lady fair
You slighted Barbry Ellen"
As she was on her long way home
She saw the funeral coming
She said, "lay me down his body there
That I may look upon him"

The more she looked, the more she saw
Till she fell down in sorrow
"Young William died for me today
I'll die for him tomorrow"

They lay her in the far graveyard
And William's grave beside her
And all o'er his grave grew red, red rose
O'er Barbara's grave a briar

They grew and grew up the churchyard wall
Till they could grow no higher
And they wound and bound in a true lover's knot
The red rose and the briar