Barbara Allen (Art Garfunkel version)

[ZhuZhuWebkinz101]

we listened to this in music. i cried. :'0 (so sad)

[cookroberts]

Love this song....my favourite moment in the Alistair Sim Christmas Carol Movie is when this tune plays in the background as he tentatively enters his nephews party after his transformation..

[iceflamesburn]

i like Art but this is not one of the better versions.

[rickw1100]

Absolutely beautiful !

[livnfree930]

I agree this is a beautiful version by Garbunkel, best I've heard.

[redhottopic]

i was wanting to post one of my fave songs ever on facebook, and of course this is one of them. the album was released when i was a senior in high school, and i have had versions of it ever since. i play this song especially because it just touches a special sadness and happiness in me. the other fave art garfunkel song is his version of "when a man loves a woman". which is also on this album. check it out and i am sure you will love it too.

[MoColumbusOhio]

This is the first version I ever heard. I heard it in high school. It is probably my favorite. Yesterday before going to see 'Dark Of The Moon' I listened to this and other versions.

"A witch boy from the mountain came,

A-pinin' to be human,

Fer he had seen the fairest gal...

A gal named Barbara Allen."

Above is the first verse of the Ballad of Barbara Allen in that American play. I guess the play 'Dark Of The Moon', a Romeo and Juliet tale from the 1930's is controversial.

[SuperKayley11]

I love Art Garfunkel, but no one can touch this song like Dolly Parton.

[LesleeLMartin]

have you read Joyce Carol Oates -- she makes reference to this ballad from time to time -- most recently saw it in the Mysteries of Wynterthurn (a brilliant trilogy by the master of all 20th -- and so far, 21st century -- writers.

[terestoye]

joan baez sang this Barbara Allen song also.

[CCRick13]

@terestoye much better

[AtheistCanuck]

lol there are like...a thousand variations of this song, there is no one right version.

[carollizc]

Too true. My dad once sent me out, looking for the "right" set of words for this..,over the weekend, I found fourteen. This was, mind you, prior to the 'net. None of them were "right", so I asked him what the right words were. He told me the ones he'd learnt from a gypsy boy before leaving England as a boy in 1949. He'd forgotten them, and wanted them again. How he'd know they were "right" I don't know, but I finally gave up looking. Too many versions, by far.

[lichtbroeder]

Published in England in 1750 with "Scarlet Town" possibly being a pun on "Reading Town". But called a bit dramatic by one person? How so? The song deals with love, unrequited love, regret, and death. To sing it with drama and emotion and lush strings seems, well, natural!

[UpstairsMaid]

that would be almoist 100 years after the first reference to barabara allen. it is not known whether it is a scottish, irish or english tsong - its roots are ancient and the true author unknown. nevertheless a fine piece of music.

[royalcourtier]

@UpstairsMaid The first reference was in Samuel Pepys diary - four hundred years ago!

[candymintz]

My mother Barbara, her maiden name was Allen, Barbara Allen, I just met a girl called Barbara and was astounded beyond all astoundment (still find it so totally incredible)  that her name too is Barbara Allen, my mother was the most gentle and beautiful person on the planet, and the Barbara I just met is clearly the same.

what an extraordinary coincidence.

[rooferkim]

One of the all-time great romantic ballads. Gut-wrenchingly beautiful!!

[chuckfmark]

I just love this version.

[banbirkas]

with all due respect jim moray is different but does not hold a candle to art -sorry i think im a grumply old person

[banbirkas]

brill nice escape from muslim lunatics

[joanpen1]

so beautiful - this best of all versions should be intruduced somehow to the current young generation- they could give this odd lovelysound a chance and might actually respond to this greatest hit of the 17th century

[banbirkas]

totally concur my eyes water at the sentiments im just an old fashioned git

[royalcourtier]

@joanpen1 I think his voice is very suited to this song. But the arrangement could have been cleaner. It would have been better sung a cappella.

[JubalCalif]

Art Garfunkel is such a talented singer. And his version of "Barbara Allen" is one of my all time favorites. I once bought one of his albums just to get this one tune. Quite lovely....it never fails to MAKE my day whenever I get the chance to listen to it. And I haven't heard it in years...sadly, I no longer have that album. THANK YOU so much for sharing this delightful gem with us. And HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you & yours! :)

[theneil100]

I like art garfunkel but he,s murdered this song,americanising an ancient scots song,sorry,no stars

[jimboofharrock]

Not murdered at all. Maybe a bit over dramatic. The song is of unknown origin but most likely English anyway. It sounds more an English raher than Scottish ballad to me, but I would say that! whatever it is beautiful.

[fairjendances]

Piercingly achingly essence of ART.

[spankypsheeb]

beautiful....the best version of Barbara Allen ever.

[310519511]

Eu adoro essa canção. É linda, suave,

melodiosa e a voz de Art é muito bonita.

O arranjo da orquestra está perfeito.

Sandra Morgado - Brasil 2009

[powerfulnun]

i love this song and this version but it is a little over the top!

[TrainphottersUK]

a nice version, but i till prefer the version by Jim Moray

[fanakopan]

by far the best version of this beautiful song. thanks for posting .x

[gufct]

Love this song was looking all over the place to get it.Recorded it on cassete from the radio many years ago .Art Garfunkels version is absolutely class and what a sad story

[iselldummysmacks]

I just sent this song to a woman that I hope I can marry someday. And what cripples my being in its entirety, is that this may never happen...

[ShawDAMAN]

best wishes! ;-P

[spankypsheeb]

did you "slight" your lady? As Barbra said he did?Please tell me that you are alright...

[AllusCats]

This song, included in an album entitled, Angel Clare evokes the sadness of the novel from whence Garfunkel's musical piece got its name. Tess of the D'Urbervilles is perhaps Hardy's most tragic story wherein, Tess meets her end with the hangman at the end. Love and death out of fate and desire...just as in "Barbara Allen". Read "Tess..." and come back to this song.

[wennne8150]

I miss this song so much! I miss his voice so much! Thanks thanks a lot for posting!!

[shapeepster]

Art's Angel Clare album is great! You should hear "Down In The Willow Garden" and "Mary Was An Only Child"! Fantastic!

[TheIcemancometh13]

I sang this in the art show for my shcool and they loved it

[kidtyger]

wow. art g up in the heezy though! that's my boy. genius like gza. be kind. be kind. wu-tang. wu-tang.

[anerdyspatula]

ha not the right song for that comment man

[Bluebottle83]

beautiful!

[ShawDAMAN]

he had a heartbreakingly beautiful voice.

[youvebeenthunderstru]

*has

[fanchbrezoneg]

l'interprétation est bonne mais bien inférieure à celle de Bob Dylan en 1962 au Gaslight à NYC, mais la meilleure et plus complète est due à John Jacob Niles 1938 avec la totalité du texte de James Child, il faut écouter les 2 contre_ténors Alfred Deller et Andreas Scholl parus chez Harmonia Mundi, vraiment c'est divin même si ce sont des versions courtes d'une des plus belles ballades jamais écrites.

[NADIAGUET]

c'est bien vrai, trés belle interpretation...cela dit je ne connais pas trop l'artiste

[mourrtii]

je trouve, que c'est la meilleure interprétation jamais faite...merci Art Garfunkel et merci à l'orchestre.............

[RaleighDawlishRaynar]

Barbara Ellen? Not quite. But hey..........

Our teachers deserve better than a caning = Honest rage - devastate - Inn butcher career

[js29002900]

very wonderful piece!!

very well done to all concerned.

thanks for posting this song onto youtube.

[emadmadi]

you know...mr art...how wonderfulyour songs?

[johnrunion]

what a voice!

[morgadosandra]

Mr Garfunkel

- "CONGRATULATIONS" - (plural word)

I'm sorry.

Sandra Morgado - Brasil - november 2008

[morgadosandra]

I love this song and this version.

Congratulation Mr. Garfunkel.

Sandra Morgado - Brasil - November 2008

[anamin52]

Beautiful song. Beautiful voice. It takes you somewhere else...

[tbshaw123]

I absolutely love this song, and have heard several versions.....Garfunkel's is by far the best!

[Amalasunta69]

this medieval ballad is beautiful..

[chrystalballs]

I am sure Art reads his messages!

Sung beautifully, my 86 year old mother and I play this everyday, she is bed ridden and in very poor health yet when this song is played she smiles and sings along, bless her and you Art.....

[mekarpin]

Art, do you ever check these messages? Beautifully sung; I remember my father singing this with his tin ear. But he felt it! (You've been a good friend to Paul Simon.)