False, False Hae Ye Been To Me
False, False Hae Ye Been To Me, My Love
DESCRIPTION: The singer laments that her love is false, ans says "I'm afraid that you're ne'er mair mine." She compares her fate to climbing a tree too high, or rowing against a stream. She says she will yet climb a still taller tree and come down to a true love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (collected from Christina MacAllister)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
MacSeegTrav 60, "False, False Hae Ye Been To Me, My Love" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, FALSTOME*
Roud #8276
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out)"
NOTES: MacColl and Seeger note that this is a member of the large class of betrayal songs combined with a demand for, or a curse of, the impossible; "The False Young Man" is another song with this sort of thing. They note that the final stanza, about climbing a higher tree, floats (though it doesn't always show up in the songs they list). But they also regard this as a separate song.
I incline to agree. While it is a typical item of this type, the lyrics are unusual enough to warrant separate classification. - RBW
And this is the version Annie Grace sings on 'Scots Women' (2001):
FAUSE FAUSE HAE YE BEEN
(Trad)
Chorus:
Fause, fause hae ye been tae me, my love
And often you've changed your mind
But noo ye've lain your love on some other fair one
And I fear you are no more mine
I climbed into a tree that was far too high for me
Seeking fruit where there wasn 't any growing
And I've drawn warm water frae beneath cauld stane
But against the stream I was rowing
But I mean to climb into another high tree
To harry on the white snowflake's nest
Then down I will fall without any fear
To the arms of the one that loves me best
FALSE, FALSE HAE YE BEEN TO ME MY LOVE
False, false hae ye been to me, my love,
0, when have you changed your mind?
But since ye've laid your iove on another fair maid,
I'm afraid that you're ne'er mair mine.
I were climbing to a tree that were too high for me,
Asking fruit where there weren 't any grew ;
I been lifting warm water oot aneath cold clay,
And against the streams I were rowing.
But I mean to climb up some higher tree,
To harry a white (snowflake's) nest,
And down shall I fall, ay, without any fear,
To the arms that loves me the best.
Possible additional verse:
I will never believe a man any more
Let his hair be white, black or brown,
Save he were on the top of a high gallows tree
And swearing he wished to come down.
From Travellers' Songs, MacColl & Seeger
Collected from Christina MacAllister