Barbara
Barbara - Ted Weems and His Orchestra Lyrics

All in the merry month of May When the green buds they were swelling, William Green on his death-bed lay For the love of Barbara Allen.
The story is being set up, William Green is about to die, and it is all because of his love for a woman named Barbara Allen.

He sent his servant to the town To the place where she was dwelling Saying "Love, there is a call for you If your name is Barbara Allen."
William Green sends someone to call Barbara Allen, but he doesn't do it directly, he sends a servant to do his bidding, and it's not until he is called by name that she knows this is about her.

She was very slowly getting up And very slowly going, The only words she said to him Were "Young man I think you're dying."
Barbara is in no hurry, and she only responds with what seems to be a cold assessment of the situation.

"Don't you remember the other day When you were in town a-drinking, You drank a health to the ladies all around And slighted Barbara Allen?"
William reminds her of a time when he was drinking and made a fool of himself. He drank to the health of many other ladies but ignored her.

"O yes, I remember the other day When I was in town a-drinking, I drank a health to the ladies all around, But my love to Barbara Allen."
William acknowledges that he did drink to the other women's health, but he did not forget his love for Barbara.

He turned his pale face to the wall And death was in him dwelling; "Adieu, adieu, to my friends all, Be kind to Barbara Allen."
William says goodbye to his friends, but he leaves a message for Barbara, to be kind to her.

When she got in two miles of town She heard the death bells ringing: They rang so clear, as if to say "Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!"
Barbara is near town when she hears the bells tolling for William. The bells seem to be accusing her of being hard-hearted.

So she looked east and she looked west And saw the cold corpse coming, She says "Come round you nice young man And let me look upon you."
She sees the funeral procession and asks to see William's body. She calls him a nice young man.

The more she looked the more she grieved Until she burst out crying "Perhaps I could have saved that young man's life Who now is here a-lying."
Barbara realizes how much she loved William and how now he is gone forever. If she had only known she might have saved his life.

"O Mother, O Mother, come make my bed O make it both soft and narrow, For sweet William died to-day And I will die to-morrow."
Barbara calls for her mother to make her deathbed, she wants it to be a soft and narrow bed. William died today, and she will die tomorrow.

"O Father, O Father, come dig my grave O dig it deep and narrow, For sweet William died in love And I will die in sorrow."
She wants her father to dig her grave, and she wants it to be deep and narrow. She notes that William died in love and she is going to die in sorrow.

Sweet William was buried in the old church tomb, Barbara Allen was buried in the yard; Out of William's heart grew a red rose, Out of Barbara Allen's grew a brier.
William was buried in the church, which is reserved for the wealthy and influential, while Barbara Allen was buried outside in the yard, which is for the common or heretics. There is symbolism, where the red rose represents love, and the brier represents pain and sorrow.

They grew and grew to the old church tower And they could not grow any higher; And at the end tied a true lover's knot And the rose wrapped around the brier.
The rose grew upwards but could not grow any further, much like William's love for Barbara. There was a true lover's knot, and the rose wrapped around the brier, which represents how their love is forever tied together, even in death.