Love Is Hot- James Parsons (Dev) 1888 Baring-Gould B
[From the Sabine Baring-Gould Manuscript Collection (SBG/1/2/688). Baring Gould wrote down The Effects of Love broadside text (British Museum 11 621, R.4) in his notebook which he copied from the British Library before 1888, presumably the same time when he was looking at broadsides for Francis J. Child.
After his A version, a copy of The Effects of Love broadside, he writes James Parsons. Compare with "the Brisk Young Miner" and "Virgin's Wreath[1]." Then Baring-Gould gives this version, presumably as sung by Parsons:
B. 1. O Love is hot &c. as A.
2. O when my apron, as A.
3. I wish that I had ne'er been born
Since love has proved my downfall
&c. as A.
4. I wish that my dear babe was born
And dandled on its daddy’s knee
And I in the cold grave did lie
And the green grass grew over me.
5. Ye Christmas winds when will ye blow
And blow the green leaves off the tree
O Gentle Death when will you call
For of my life I am weary
6. Unloose these chains, &c. as A.
Remarkably, there are only two small changes (marked in italics) between the broadside and what Baring-Gould claimed was a traditional version sung by James Parsons. Baring Gold evidently liked this text for he reworked it --using the same title and first stanza in an edition of Songs of the West p. 28-29.
There are very few changes in Parsons' version from the broadside. This broadside was known by Baring-Gould and no other similar versions have been collected.
R. Matteson 2017]
Love Is Hot- attributed to James Parsons of Lewdown, Devon c. 1888, Baring-Gold B (same as Effects of Love broadside)
1. O, love is hot, and Love is cold,
And love is dearer than any gold;
And love is dearer than any thing,
Unto my grave it will me bring.
2. O when my apron it hung low,
He followed me thro’ frost and snow;
But now I am with-child by him,
He passes by and says nothing.
3. I wish that I had never been born,
Since love has proved my downfall;
He takes a stranger on his knee,
And is this not a grief to me.
4. I wish that my dear babe was born,
And dandled on its daddy’s knee,
And I in the cold grave did lie,
And the green grass grew over me.
5 Ye Christmas winds when will ye blow;
And blow the green leaves off the tree,
O, gentle Death, when will you call,
For of my life I am[2] weary.
6. Unloose those chains love, and set me free
And let me at liberty;
For was you here instead of me,
I’d unloose you love, and set you free.
1. Wrath?
2. I am quite weary (original)
3. Unloose these chains (original)
2. original "am quite weary'