| All in the merry month of May
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| When green buds all are swellin'
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| Sweet William on his deathbed lay for love of Barbara Allen
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| He sent his servant to the town
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| The place where she did dwell in
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| Saying, 'Master dear has sent me here if your name be Barbara Allen.'
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| Then slowly, slowly she got up and slowly she went to him
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| And all she said when there she came was, 'Young man, I think you’re dying
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| 'Don't you remember the other night when we were in the tavern?
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| You drank a toast to the ladies there and slighted Barbara Allen.'
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| He turned his face unto the wall
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| He turned his back upon her
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| 'Adieu, adieu, to all my friends
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| And be kind, be kind to Barbara Allen.'
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| As she was wandering on the fields she heard the death bell knellin'
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| And every note, it seemed to say
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| 'Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!'
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| The more it tolled the more she grieved
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| She bursted out a-crying
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| 'Oh, pick me up and carry me home
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| I fear that I am dying.'
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| They buried Willy in the old church yard and Barbara in the new one
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| And from William’s grave, there grew a rose, from Barbara’s, a green briar
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| They grew and grew in the old church yard
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| Till they could grow no higher
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| And there they tied in a true lover’s knot
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| The red rose and the briar |