[Verse 1]
'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

[Verse 2]
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"

[Verse 3]
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"

[Verse 4]
"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"

[Verse 5]
"Well I remember that distant night
Down in the logwood tavern
You danced and sang with a lady fair
You slighted Barbry Ellen"
[Verse 6]
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"

[Verse 7]
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"

[Verse 8]
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

[Verse 9]
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