I remember some one played this Barbara allen song at the heritage festival a few years ago and said that some give it the credit of being the first song written in english. I was wondering what this means- how do they determine that? Does the song stem from old english, was it the first song written down in old english. Was it the first song written in modern English- did it not exist until modern english came around? Did it evolve through Old and Middle english with the language and go through semantic changes? What makes it so unique and defined as the first song written in english?
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