Paradise

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Barbara Allen

I sometimes think of the song Barbara Allen, and wonder about the lyrics. It's always sounded silly to me. In vain I've asked people if I'm missing something. They don't know either.

In "Scarlet Town" or else "Maxwell Town," where the person telling the tale was born, "there lived a fair maid dwelling." I've always wondered about this fair maid. Really? Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Sweet William lay on his deathbed, for love of Barbara Allen.

May I say, I have an extremely old songbook printed around 1900 with this song in it. Some of the words have changed since the version in this book. Also, the melody. The curious thing is, 1900 was before all these changes, and yet, some of these versions are now so old that there is a tendency to believe that they are closer to the original, and therefore "the truth." The fictional truth? Still, the oldest version is silly too.

Barbara Allen is cruel for putting Sweet William on his deathbed. How did she do that? Well, he just felt his love was unrequited. Well, doesn't everyone find themselves on their deathbed in such circumstances? Especially young people. I just can't make the leap of faith that Sweet William's death can be laid at Barbara Allen's feet. But let's go ahead and swallow this notion for the sake of poetic license.

Having decided that Barbara Allen did indeed practically murder Sweet William, the rest of the song makes more sense. Sweet William is buried, and Barbara Allen is overwhelmed by guilt for her treachery. OK. Therefore the little witch too curls up and dies. Oh boo hoo. There seems to be the idea that this is her just dessert for her cruelty of spurning Sweet William. And so Barbara Allen is buried somewhere in the vicinity of Sweet William. A red rose grows from Sweet William's grave, but a briar grows from bad, bad Barbara Allen's grave. The two plants wind up locked in a lover's knot. The end.

Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

No More Toaster Oven

I've done it now. I blew up my toaster oven. And the refrigerator.

I've got the refrigerator running again. I had to run a heavy duty extension cord across the kitchen, and use the outlet that the microwave is plugged into. But the toaster oven is history.

There are only two outlets in the kitchen.