Love Is Teasing (Love Is Pleasing)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
By James Joyce, 1922
Sung by Mr. Dedalus from Cork,
"'Tis youth and folly
Makes young men marry,
So here, my love,
I'll No longer stay.
What can't be cured, sure,
Must be injured[endured], sure,
So I'll go to Amerikay.
"My love she's handsome,
My love she's bony:
She's like good whisky
When it is new;
But when 'tis old
And growing cold
It fades and dies like
The mountain dew."
When First I Came to the County (first part)
A rare undated printed sheet, in the Chetham's Library, Manchester, entitled The Wheel of Fortune A SONG Sung by Mr.
The wheel of fortune, a song
Richard Leveridge (1670-1758) at the Theatre Royal In Lincolns Inn Fields
==============
:
This Air is arranged from the way it was sung in the Counties of Aberdeen and Banff. The Ballad is arranged and epitomized from a copy written from the recitation of the person mentioned in the note p. 42, and from one on a Broad-side. It will be seen that four of the lines resemble four lines in '"Waly, waly:'I_
"But had I wist before I kiss'd,
That love had been sae ill to win,
I'd lock'd my heart in a case of gold,
And pinn'd it up wi' a siller pin'.'
The Wheel of Fortune.
WHEN I was young I was well beloved
In many gentle company:
And when thus blooming, just in my blossom,
A gay young man prov'd fause to me.
I did not think he was going to leave me,
Until one morning that he came in,
Till he came in and sat down and told me,
Then all my sorrows did begin.
"Oh, since it's so that you are to leave me!
And you and I must for ever part; Though you have tried to spoil my fortune,
You're not the man that can break my heart. But had I known, before I saw you,
That love was something so ill to win,
I'd have lock'd my heart in a golden casket,
And pinn'd it up with a silver pin."
Oh, how can I be blithe and glad now,
Or in my mind contented be!
Since the bonny lad, that I lo'ed so dearly,
Has now gone far awa' from me!
Of all the flowers that grow in the garden,
Be sure to pu' the rue in time!
For other flowers soon get out of fashion,
I pu'd rue late, and now it's mine.
Oh, turn ye round, ye wheel of fortune!
Oh, turn ye round and smile on me!
For young men's words are so deceiving,
As sad experience teaches me.
But after evening there comes the morning,
And after dawn there comes the day;
And after a fause love may come a true love;
He's ill to hold that will not stay.
I'm Often Drunk and Seldom Sober
DESCRIPTION: Singer is seldom sober and "a rover in every degree," He says his lover is "as clever a woman as ever trod upon London ground." He wishes he were in Dublin or across the sea beyond lawyers' reach. She says her love is clever. They both love drink.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1831 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(894))
KEYWORDS: drink floatingverses nonballad
FOUND IN:
Roud #3135
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(894), "I'm Often Drunk and Seldom Sober" ("Many cold winter nights I've travelled"), R. Walker (Norwich), 1780- 1830; also Harding B 25(893), Harding B 11(1731), "I'm Often Drunk, and Seldom Sober ("The sea is wide and I can't get over")
NOTES: Description is from broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(1731). - BS
-----------
Love Is Lovely (Kenneth Peacock)
(Love Is Pleasing) (Keg Of Brandy) (Waly Waly)
midi1 alt: midi2
Collected by Kenneth Peacock in 1958 from Isaac Freeman Bennett [1896-1981] of St Paul's, NL, and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 2, pp.475-476, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
I laid my head on a keg of brandy,
It was my fancy I do declare;
But while I'm drinkng I'm ofttimes thinking
'Bout who should gain this young lady fair.
Oh love is lovely, oh love is charming,
Oh love is lovely when it is new,
But when love grows old, sure it then grows colder,
And it fades away like the morning dew.
Oh ofttimes drunk and cast down lonely,
I rove around oh from town to town,
And when my frolicking days are over,
This fair young damsel will lay me down.
Oh love is lovely, oh love is charming,
Oh love is lovely when it is new,
But when love grows old, sure it then grows colder,
And it fades away like the morning dew.
I wish to God I was never born,
Or in my cradle I would have died;
For such a youth to be ever born,
To a-love a maid and be denied.
Oh love is lovely, oh love is charming,
Oh love is lovely when it is new,
But when love grows old, sure it then grows colder,
And it fades away like the morning dew.
The ocean is wide and I can't wade over,
Neither have I got wings to fly,
But if I had some old skipper boat-man,
I would ferry me over my love and I.
Oh love is lovely, oh love is charming,
Oh love is lovely when it is new,
But when love grows old, sure it then grows colder,
And it fades away like the morning dew.
Oh, ofttimes drunk and seldom sober,
A rolling stone looks so black as ink;
I will place my coat for the want of money,
And I'll sing no more till I get a drink!
Oh love is lovely, oh love is charming,
Oh love is lovely when it is new,
But when love grows old, sure it then grows colder,
And it fades away like the morning dew.
------------------
Keg Of Brandy
Mike Molloy NFLD 2 Tape 19A Track 5
St. Shott's Audio:
Ballad
LEACH: All right
MOLLOY: (sings)
I laid my head on a keg of brandy
And oh how fancy did l declare
When l am drinking I'm always thinking
Will l gain that fair lady fair
Chorus:
Oh love is handsome and love is pretty
Love is lovely when first it's new
But when love gets old it gets quite cold
And it fades away like the morning dew
I am in love-
I'm always drunk and I'm seldom sober
I'm always roamin' from town to town
But when I'm drinkin' I'm always thinkin'
Will l gain that fair lady fair
Chorus:
Oh love is handsome and love is pretty
Love is lovely when first it's new
But when love gets old it gets quite cold
And it fades away like the morning dew
I am in love and l can't control it
What a pain do lie in my breast
For such a youth to be never born
To love a maiden and to be denied
Chorus:
Oh love is handsome and love is pretty
Love is lovely when first it's new
But when love gets old it gets quite cold
And it fades away like the morning dew
The ocean's wide and l can't wade over
Nor do l got wings to fly
But if l had oh some skilful boatsman
To ferry over my love and I
Chorus:
Oh love is handsome and love is pretty
Love is lovely when first it's new
But when love gets old it gets quite cold
And it fades away like the morning dew
But it is said in the Newcastle country
_______________________________
I pledged my coat for the want o' money
And I'll sing no more til l gets a drink
Chorus:
Oh love is handsome and love is pretty
Love is lovely when first it's new
But when love gets old it gets quite cold
And it fades away like the morning dew
----------------
Oh turn around love, you yield a fortune
Oh turn around love, and smile at me
Oh surely there must be a place of torment
For this young girl who deceived me
spinner Love is Teasin
It is in the hand of Thomas Wode, vicar “Heire endes the Psalmes and followeth certain Canticles]
Thomas Wood, vicar of St. Andrews, in 1566
Stewart Style, 1513-1542: Essays on the Court of James V - Page 175
https://books.google.com/books?id=j7BnAAAAMAAJ
Janet Hadley Williams - 1996 - Snippet view - More editions
Goe graith you in your glancing geir
To meet my ladie pair and pair.
With harps and lutts and guthorns gay
My ladie will come heir away.
Hey trollie lollie, love is jolly
A whyll whyll it is new;
When it is old it growis full cold:
Woe worth the love untrew.
Underneath the grein wood trie
Ther thy good love bidis thee, Frisca jollie.
Pulland the sloe so does she goe
Singing so mirrily.
I saw three ladies fair.
Singing hey and how
Upon yon layland-a:
I saw three marinells,
Singing rumbelow
Upon yon seastrand-a.
-----------------
Iain MacKintosh & Hamish Imlach (1940-1996 Scottish parents)
Love is teasing, love is pleasing
And love is a pleasure when first it's new
But as love grows old, love grows cold
And fades away like morning dew
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I were a maid again
But a maid again I ne'er can be
Till apples grow on an ivy tree
I leaned my back against some young oak
Thinking it was a trusty tree
First it bent and then it broke
So did my true love and me
I wish, I wish my babe was born
Sitting on its nurse's knee
And I poor girl was dead and gone
The long green grass growing over me
(as sung by Iain MacKintosh & Hamish Imlach)
--------------------
Dubliners:
love is teasing And love is a pleasure When first it's new But as it grows older Sure the love grows colder And it fades away Like the morning dew.
And love and porter Makes a young man older
And love and whisky akes him old and gray
And What can't be cured, love as to be endured, love, And now I am bound For America.
And me own relations
I left them all Out of love for you.
But the sweetest apple Is the soonest rotten
And the hottest love Is the soonest cold.
And what can't be cured, love, Has to be endured, love, And now I am bound For America.
Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion
George R. Graham, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Jacobs Peterson - 1845 - p. 158
We are soon busily engaged in re-arranging our “tackling,” Bill humming a stave of “The Legacy,” while Jim is shouting out his melody—
O love is charming, oh love is bonny,
Oh love is charming all when 'tis new;
But when 'tis older it waxes colder,
And fades away like the morning dew.
We descend again into the brook, on the other side of the bridge. High rocky banks are at each hand, with contorted hemlocks and spruces hanging from
Jürgen Klos traces the first verse to "I'm Often Drunk And Seldom Sober" (c. 1780), the second to "The Seamans leave taken of his sweetest Margery" (c. 1660), the third to "Oh Waly, Waly, Gin Love Be Bonny" (already 'old' when published in c. 1724), and the fourth to "Hey trollie lollie, love is jolly" (c. 1620.) He could not trace the melody before 1905.
No. 66. WALY, WALY.
Words and air from Mrs. Cox, of High Ham.
I have noted this song in Somerset five times — tunes and words varying consider-
ably. Mr. Thomas of Cannington, however, gave me a version very closely resem-
bling Mrs. Cox's.
Our Somerset words have so much affinity with the well-known Scottish ballad
"Waly Waly," that we are publishing them under the same title. The Rev. S.
Baring Gould has taken down three versions of the same song in Devon ; one of
them, with which our Somerset song has much in common, is published in Songs of
the West, No. 86, under the heading "A Ship Came Sailing." The reader is referred
to the note at the end of the same volume, p. 24.
The traditional poem of "Waly Waly" forms part of a longer ballad, "Lord
Jamie Douglas," printed in the appendix to Motherwell's Minstrelsy. Its origin seems
very obscure. The Scottish tune is given in Rimbault's Musical illustrations of Percy s
T^eliques, p. 102 ; in Chambers' Scottish Songs prior to Burns, p. 280, and elsewhere.
i The water is wide I cannot get o'er
And neither have I wings to fly.
Give me a boat that will carry two
And both shall row, my Love and I.
2 O, down in the meadows the other day
A-gath'ring flow'rs both fine and gay,
A-gathering flowers, both red and blue,
I little thought what love can do.
3 I put my hand into one soft bush
Thinking the sweetest flower to find.
I pricked my finger right to the bone,
And left the sweetest flower alone.
4 I leaned my back up against some oak
Thinking that he was a trusty tree :
But first he bended and then he broke ;
And so did my false Love to me.
5 A ship there is and she sails the sea,
She's loaded deep as deep can be,
But not so deep as the love I'm in :
I know not if I sink or swim.
6 O, love is handsome and love is fine,
And love's a jewel while it is new,
But when it is old, it groweth cold
And fades away like morning dew.
--------------
In Scotland Greig and Duncan have noted a fragment with only one verse that could be a relic of this song (Greig-Duncan VI, No.1166, p. 252):
Love it is pleasing, love it is cheering,
Love it is pleasant, while it is new,
But when it gets older then love it get colder,
And fades away like the morning dew.
On the British broadside sheet this song is combined with "The Green Willow" that includes another variant form of this verse:
You false-hearted young men you know you have deceived me,
You false-hearted young men you have caused me to rue,
My love it does grow older but never will grow colder,
I wish 't would fade away like the sweet morning dew.
-----
Young Ladies/ "Fair and Tender Ladies."
E. "Come, Roll 'round the Wheel of Fortune." The song was recorded near Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, by Glada Gully, a student in Lincoln Memorial University.
1. Come, roll 'round your wheel of fortune; Come, roll around once more for me; A young man's love is quite uncertain; My own experience teaches me.
2. Once I had a gay, young lover; He was my joy; he was my pride; But now he's going with another; He's sitting by another's side.
3. I must confess I dearly love him; I kept the secret in my breast; I never knew an ill about him Until I learned to love him best.
4. I never knew he was going to leave me Until one night when he came in; He sat down by me and told me; 'Twas when my trouble first began.
5. Had I the wings of a little sparrow, I wouldn't pine nor would 1 die,
But 1 would follow my false-hearted lover And tell him where he told a lie.
6. Had I the wings of a little swallow, Or had I the wings of a turtle dove, I'd fly away from this world of sorrow Into some land of light and love.
7. Now, all you girls, take warning; Be careful how you love young men, For they are like the stars of morning, As soon as daylight they are gone.
For the broadside text of "I'm Often Drunk And Seldom Sober" - published around 1820 - the words were modernized and the anachronisms deleted:
If love is handsome, and love is pretty,
And love is charming while it's new,
But as love grows older it grows much colder
But fades away like the morning dew.
Oh What Needs I Go Busk and Braw
Roud Folksong Index (S345634)
First Line: Oh whit needs I go busk an braw
Source: Stewart, Up Yon Wide and Lonely Glen (2012) pp.291-292
Performer: Stewart, Lucy
Date: 1963
Place: Scotland : Aberdeenshire : Fetterangus
Collector: Glasser, Howard
Roud No: 1049
I Laid My Head on a Keg of Brandy
Roud Folksong Index (S391079)
First Line: O I laid my head on a keg of brandy
Love Is Sweet / William Hall
Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/10/3228)
First Line: Love is sweet and love it's pleasant
Performer:
Date: c. 8 Aug 1916
Place: [USA : N. Carolina : Carmen?]
Collector: Sharp, Cecil J.
Roud No: 1049
Source: Memorial University Folklore Archive (MUNFLA) (St. John's, Newfoundland) acc. 78-274 / tape C4369B / counter 154 / MS p.85-86
Performer: Walsh, Lucy
Date: 1977 (Aug)
Place: Canada : Newfoundland : St. Mary's
Collector: Burke, Anne
Roud No: 1049
Subjects: When the singer is drinking, he often thinks of his lady love. But he'll sing no more 'til he gets a drink.
I Lent My Back Against An Oak
Percy Grainger Manuscript Collection (PG/5/143)
First Line: I lent my back against an oak
Performer:
Date: 15 Sep 1906
Place: England : Lincolnshire : Horncastle
Collector: Penny, James A.
Roud No: 1049
Love is Bonnie
Roud Folksong Index (S333896)
First Line: I left my father and left my mother
Source: Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches (website)
Performer: Mathieson, Willie
Date: 1952 (Jan)
Place: Scotland : Aberdeenshire : Ellon
Collector: Henderson, Hamish
Roud No: 1049
Love is Sweet
Roud Folksong Index (S243769)
First Line: Love is sweet and love it's pleasant
Source: Cecil Sharp MSS, Folk Tunes p.3228
Performer:
Date: 1916 (8 Aug)(?)
Place: USA : N. Carolina : Carmen(?)
Collector: Sharp, Cecil J.
Roud No: 1049
Love is Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S340376)
First Line: Oh love it is pleasing although it is teasing
Source: Mike Yates Collection: British Library National Sound Archive C 796/88 (VWML 26 CDA Yates)
Performer: Jones, Joe 'Sharper's'
Date: 1975 (7 May)
Place: England : Kent : St. Mary Cray
Collector: Yates, Mike
Roud No: 1049
Oh Love is Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S341680)
First Line: Oh love is pleasing and love is teasing
Source: Alan Lomax Sound Collection T1015.03
Performer: Ritchie, Jean
Date: 1949 (16 Apr)
Place: USA : Kentucky
Collector: Lomax, Alan
Love is Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S339212)
First Line: O love it is pleasing although it is teasing
Source: Stephen Sedley Sound Collection (Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, London) 13 CDA Tape Collection
Performer: Saunders, Joe
Date: 1966 (26 Mar)
Place: England : Kent : Biggin Hill
Collector: Sedley, Stephen
Roud No: 1049
Love is Lovely
Roud Folksong Index (S214187)
First Line: I laid my head on a keg of brandy
Source: Peacock, Songs of the Newfoundland Outports 2 (1965) pp.475-476
Performer: Bennett, Freeman
Date: 1958 (Aug)
Place: Canada : Newfoundland : St. Paul's
Collector: Peacock, Kenneth
Roud No: 1049
Love is Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S340535)
First Line: Oh love is handsome and love is fine
Source: Mike Yates Collection: British Library National Sound Archive C 796/125 (VWML 34 CDA Yates)
Performer: Upton, Harry
Date: 1977 (Jul)
Place: England : Sussex : Balcombe
Collector: Yates, Mike
Roud No: 1049
Love It is Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S339210)
First Line: Love it's a pleasure while you're courting
Source: Stephen Sedley Sound Collection (Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, London) 17 CDA Tape Collection
Performer: Cooper, Lena
Date: 1966 (19 Aprl)
Place: England : Kent : Biggin Hill
Collector: Sedley, Stephen
Roud No: 1049
Love is Easing
Roud Folksong Index (S341249)
First Line: For love is easing and love is teasing
Source: Musical Traditions MTCD353-5 ('As I Roved Out')
Performer: Makem, Sarah
Date: 1955
Place: N. Ireland : Co. Armagh : Keady
Collector: Hamilton, Diane
Roud No: 1049
Love is Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S339209)
First Line: Oh love is pleasing and love it is teasing
Source: Stephen Sedley Sound Collection (Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, London) 13 CDA Tape Collection
Performer: [Unidentied female singer]
Date: 1966c
Place: England
Collector: Sedley, Stephen
Roud No: 1049
The Ripest of Apples
Roud Folksong Index (S219697)
First Line: O the ripest of apples, they must soon grow rotten
Source: Huntington, Songs of the People (1990) p.383
Performer:
Date: 1936 (7 Mar)
Place: N. Ireland
Collector: Henry, Sam
Roud No: 1049
Love It is Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S214203)
First Line: Love it is pleasing, love it is cheering
Source: Greig-Duncan Collection 6 p.252
Performer: Robb, Alexander
Date: 1906 (Sep)
Place: Scotland
Collector: Greig, Gavin
Roud No: 1049
-------------
Love is Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S182922)
First Line: When I was young, love and in full blossom
Source: Palmer, Love Is Pleasing (1974) pp.22-23
Performer: Gulliver, Mrs.
Date: 1905 (Apr/May)
Place: England : Somerset : Combe Florey
Collector: Hammond, H.E.D.
Love is Pleasin'
Roud Folksong Index (S214189)
First Line: O love is pleasin', and love is teasin'
Source: Bush, Folk Songs of Central West Virginia 1 pp.70-71
Performer:
Date: 1967
Place: USA : W. Virginia
Collector: Bush, Michael E.
Roud No: 1049
-----------------
Love It's Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S372901)
First Line: When I was young I was well beloved
Source: Ceol 2: (1968) pp.46-47
Performer: Dempsey, Jim
Date:
Place: Ireland : Co. Wexford : Blackwater
Collector: Shields, Hugh
-------------
Love is Teasin'
Roud Folksong Index (S182924)
First Line: O love is teasin' and love is pleasin'
Source: Ritchie, Garland of Mountain Song (1953) pp.14-15
Performer: Ritchie, Jean
Date:
Place: USA : Kentucky : Viper
Collector:
Roud No: 1049
Love is Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S214190)
First Line: I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
Source: Veteran VT 122 ('Pass Around the Grog')
Performer: Morrissey, Tommy
Date:
Place: England : Cornwall : Padstow
Collector: Howson, John
Roud No: 1049
Love is Pleasing
Roud Folksong Index (S243768)
First Line: I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
Source: O'Connor, This Song I'll Sing to You (1995) p.19
Performer: Morrissey, Tommy
Date:
Place: England : Cornwall
---------------
Music Folk Songs of Canada Vol.2
Roud 1049
Love is easy, love is pleasing.
Fraser, Mrs. Arlie
1961
---------------------
Love It Is Pleasing
Henry Hammond Manuscript Collection (HAM/2/1/23)
First Line:
Performer: Gulliver, ( Mrs.)
Date: May 1905
Place: Englan : Somerset : Combe Florey
Collector: Hammond, H.E.D.
Roud No: 1049
George Gardiner Manuscript Collection (GG/1/16/1002)
-----
Love is Teasing
First Line:
Performer: Hopkins, (Mrs.)
Date: Oct 1907
Place: England : Hampshire : Axford
Collector: Gardiner, G.B. Gamblin, Charles
Roud No: 1049
--------------
under the title "William Hall" English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, No. 171, version D . vol. II, p. 242.
Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/10/3228)
Love Is Sweet / William Hall
First Line: Love is sweet and love it's pleasant
Love is sweet when I have it in view
But now we is parter broken hearted
O my heart will break in two.
Performer:
Date: c. 8 Aug 1916
Place: [USA : N. Carolina : Carmen?]
Collector: Sharp, Cecil J.
Roud No: 1049
----------------------
Yet another verse:
If I had known before I courted
That love had been such a killin' crime,
I'd have locked my heart in a box of golden
And tied it up with a silver twine.
I think this is the Peggy Seeger version.
"Love is teasin", as sung by Marianne Faithful on the Chieftain's Long Black Veil
Oh love is teasin' and love is pleasing
And love is a pleasure when first it's new
But as love grows older sure love grows colder
Til it fades away like the morning dew
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I was a maid (substitute youth) again
But a maid again I ne'er can be
Til apples grow on an ivy tree
But the sweetest apple is soonest rotten
And the hottest love is the soonest cold
But what can't be cured love, must be endured love
So now I'm bound for Amerikay
I left my father, I left my mother
I left all my brothers and sisters too
I left all my friends and my own relations
I left them all for to follow you
And love and porter make a young man older
And love and whiskey make him old and grey
And what can't be cured love, has to be endured love
And now I'm bound for Amerikay.
----------
This iteration, titled Love is Easy, was collected in Ontario by Canadian folklorist Edith Fowke. I understand that it is close to that sung by Jean Ritchie, referenced above.
Barry
That was great. I have a photo of myself and Edith Fowke somewhere, taken at the 1968 Mariposa Festival, I should post it sometime. She was a great lady and her husband Frank was one of the gentlest, quietest and nicest individuals you could meet.
The last verse"
Come all you fair maids from distant counties
, Don't you believe all young men say,
For like the stars on a frosty evening,
You think they're near when they're far away.
is very similar to a verse in " Fair and Tender Ladies"
"Come all ye fair and tender ladies>br>Take warning how you court young men
They're like the stars on a summer evening
They first appear and then they're gone
-------------
Add: LOVE IS TEASIN'^^ from Ritchie
From: Alice - PM
Date: 05 Jan 01 - 04:05 PM
Anac Cuain.
I just checked the lyrics in the DT and noticed that the version I sing is different. The tune I sing is very close to the tune for Anac Cuain. Here is the way I sing it, tweaked a bit.
LOVE IS TEASIN'
Oh love is teasin', and love is pleasin',
And love's a pleasure when first it's new,
But love grows older and then grows colder,
And fades away like the mornin' dew.
Come all you young maids, and heed this warning,
Do not believe what the young men say,
For like a star on a misty morning,
You'll think he's near when he's far away.
I left my mother, I left my father,
I left my brothers and sisters, too,
I left my cottage, the home I dwelt in,
My dear young man to be with you.
Oh love is teasin', and love is pleasin',
And love's a pleasure when first it's new,
But love grows older and then grows colder,
And fades away like the mornin' dew.
---------------
LOVE IS TEASING- no source given
Cho: Love is a teasing and love is pleasing
And love is a treasure when first it's new
But as it grows older then love grows colder
And fades away like the morning dew
I left my Father, I left my Mother
I left my sisters & brothers too
I left my friends and my kind relations
I left them all for to go with you.
Oh turn around love, your wheel of fortune
Oh turn around love and smile on me
For surely there must be a place of torment
for that young girl who deceiv-ed me
Oh lads beware of your false true lovers
and never mind what the young girls say
They're like the stars on a summer's morning
you think they're near but they're far away.
==============
There may be hundreds of songs that connect with this one. It's such a popular idea with popular and universal themes within it. Take a look at songs like "Died for Love", or "The Butcher's Boy" and chase the links from there, for example. You can be lost for years among these interconnecting songs.
"For love it is a killing thing. Have you not felt the pain?" appears a time or two. I sing it in a version of "Mary Ann" that was collected in Canada and which was sung around the coffee houses in the 60s.
I doubt if anyone who has really researched this group of songs would be confident enough to state which ones belong where. You could maybe look at Jamie Douglas and it's introduction in the Child collection as a possible starting point. Cheers, Joy
Joyce sites somewhere the same song with the verse:
'Tis youth and folly
That make men marry
So here my love, I'll no more stay;
What can't be cured sure
Must be inDUred sure,
So I'll go to Amerikay
"Love it is a Killing Thing" is given as the title of what look like variants of this song on several websites. Some seem to be an amalgamation of the song usually known as "Blackwater Side" and "Love is Teasing" along with several "floater" verses.
I NEVER THOUGHT MY LOVE WOULD LEAVE ME
I never thought that my love would leave me
Until that morning when he came in
He sat down and I sat beside him
'Twas then our troubles they did begin
Oh love is pleasing and love is teasing
And love is a pleasure when first it's new
But love grows older and grows quite colder
And fades away like the morning dew
There is a tavern in yon town
And there my love goes and he sits down
He takes a dark girl on his knee
And tells her what he once told me
There is a blackbird sits on yon tree
Some say he's blind and cannot see
Some say he's blind and cannot see
And so is my false love to me
I wish my father had never whistled
I wish my mother had never sung
I wish the cradle had never rocked me
I wish I'd died, love, when I was young
------------------------------------------------
recorded by June Tabor on "Abyssinians" (1983)
The second verse also serves as a chorus for the
song "Love Is Pleasing" (recorded by The Dubliners)
----------
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Love is pleasing
From: GUEST,robinia - PM
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 03:44 AM
I'm surprised that no one's mentioned "Come all you fair and tender ladies," which as I recall it contains the "killing crime" verse cited by Rob and has a very different tune from any of the "Love is pleasing and love is teasing" songs. For that matter, I'm not convinced that they're all the "same song" -- I know that RISE UP SINGING mushes them all together under "The Water is Wide" but I associate different melodies for the different "variants," including the single-verse variant sung by Lizzie Higgins (Jeanie Robertson's daughter):
"Love it is teasing, and love is enticing;
O, love come beside me and keep me warm;
But when it grows older, love it grows colder,
And it just fades away like the dew on the rose."
It's frustrating that she only sang the one verse to a melody that I wish I could reproduce here; it's eerily different, and if anyone know any other verses she sang (or could have sung) to it, I'd love to hear them.
-------------
Lyr. Add: OH, JOHNNY, JOHNNY
Oh, Johnny, Johnny, but love is bonny,
A little while when it is new.
But when it's old it groweth cold
And fades, fades away like the morning dew.
Oh, Johnny, Johnny, but you are nice, love,
In keeping company with me sae lang,
You are the first boy that e'er I had, love,
So kiss me, Johnny, before ye gang.
One kiss of my lips ye ne'er shall get, love,
For you have caused me sore to sigh,
Nor will I grant you that sweet request, love,
That oftentimes you did me deny.
If I would grant you that sweet request, love,
My heart on you I might then bestow,
But as good a lover as you may come, love,
So I'll not hinder you for to go.
For I have stepped the steps of love, dear,
And I have stepped a step too low;
Was it to be done that I have done,
It would never be done by me, I know.
It's ower the moss, love, you need'na cross, love,
And ower the moor ye needna ride,
For I have gottn a new sweetheart, love,
And you may go get yourself a bride.
For love dies come and love does go, love,
Like a little small bird unto its nest.
Was I to tell you, love all I know, love,
They're far away that I love best.
It's had I known the first time I kissed you
That women's hearts were so ill to win,
I would have locked mine all in a chest, love,
And screwed, screwed it tight with a silver pin.
Oh, I wish my father had never whistled,
And I wish my mother had never sung,
And I wish the cradles had never rock-ed
When I was a boy and so very young.
Verse 8, chest screwed tight with a silver pin, reminds of "locked my heart in a box of gold and tied it up with silver twine" in the version of "Love is Pleasin' posted by Joe.
Source: Maud Houston. With music and extended comments, first printed 1924 (stanza 9 did not appear in the paper), pp. 392-393, "Sam Henry's Songs of the People," Univ. Georgia Press, 1990
-------------
Ritchie:
I myself learned it from Peggy Staunton, a lovely Irishwoman who worked in the kitchen at the Henry Street Settlement where I had my first NYC job (I majored in social work and that's why I came to NY from KY in the first place...). Peggy was a beautiful singer, and we'd usually end up step-dancing round the big diningroom after all the important folks left.
Well it's the very first song on the very first commercial recording I made, EKLP-2 for Elektra, in 1952 or so. I learned it after I came to NYC from Kentucky, from Peggy Staunton (from Co. Sligo) who waited tables for the "Family" at Henry St. Settlement where I lived and worked. Alan Lomax later learned the song from me. It has a lovely melody- different from Jean Redpath's or Peggy Seeger's. Peggy Staunton's verses:
O love is teasin and love is pleasin
And love's a pleasure whene'er it is new,
But as love grows older it grows the colder,
And fades away like the mornin dew.
I left my father, I left my mother,
I left my brothers and sisters too;
I left my home and my fond d-wellin,
O my young man, for the sake of you.
Come all ye fair maids, now take a warnin,
Don't never heed what a young man say;
He is like a star on some foggy mornin-
When you think he's near he is far away.
O love is pleasin, and love is teasin, (etc. repeat first vs)
The old 10" vinyl had a long title, something like, Jean Ritchie- Singing the Songs of Her Kentucky Mountain Family. The new compilation is this record, my second Elektra record, and my later Warner Brothers record...Elektra was taken over by WB, so that's why.
It's one of Rhino's Handmade Series, and is titled, Mountain Hearth and Home, available only online, from Rhino.
Sorry- this is probably more than any of you wanted to know! Jean
-----------
Frank Lennon hase a different verse and 'bound for Amerikay-
Lyr. Add: Love Is Pleasing
(Intro- Last Line)
Chorus:
Oh (C)love is pleasin' and (G)love is teasin'
And love is a pleasure when first it's (C)new
But (C)as it grows older sure (G)love grows colder
And it fades away like the morning dew(C).
I left my father, I left my mother
I left all my brothers and sisters too
I left all my friends and my own relations
I left them all for to follow you.
Chorus
But the sweetest apple is the soonest rotten
And the hottest love is the soonest cold
And what cannot be cured love, must be endured love
And now I am bound for Amerikay.
Chorus
And love and porter make a young man older
And love and whiskey make him old and grey
And what cannot be cured love must be endured love
And now I am bound for Amerikay.
Chorus
(Intro Repeat- Key D)
(D)I wish, I wish, I (A7) wish in vain
I wish I was a maid a(D)gain
(D)But a maid again I (A7)ne'er will be
Till the cherries grow on an ivy (G)tree.
Chorus (repeat last line- slow)
http:www.socc.ie/~irishmidifiles/lyrics.htm"> Irish Song Lyrics
-------------
The verse is in "Love Is Pleasin'," Lomax, "Folk Songs of North America," No. 70, p. 136 with music (Arranged by Matyas Seiber).
"From the singing of an Irish servant girl, recorded by Jean Ritchie, NY, 1940's." "Seamus Ennis says: one of the oldest west of Ireland tunes" (no reference).
Verse 3.
If I'd a-knowed before I courted,
That love had a-been such a killin' crime,
I'd a-locked my heart in a box of gold,
And tied it up with a silver twine.
---------------
Jane Rothfield sang it on her album with Alan Carr, Atlantic Bridge (Green Linnet SIF 1080)
From the liner notes:
LOVE IS TEASING
(Words Trad. Additional lyrics A. Carr / Tune J. Rothfield ©1986)
Love is pleasing, love is teasing
And love's a pleasure when first it is new
But as love grows older, it soon grows colder
And fades away like the morning dew
I left my home and all my relations
I left them all for the love of you
I came so far to this wild country
Trusting that your heart was true
If I had known before I courted
That love would be such a killing crime
I'd a locked my heart in a box of gold
And tied it up with a silver twine
I never thought that my love would leave me
Until one morning when he came in
He pulled up a chair and sat down beside me
And then my sorrows, they did begin
So girls, beware of your false true lovers
Never mind what the young men say
For they're like a star on a foggy morning
You think they're near and they're far away
Turn around, you wheel of fortune
Turn around and smile on me
For surely there'll be one honest young man
In this wide world, who won't deceive me
Love is pleasing, love is teasing
And love's a pleasure when first it is new
But as love grows older, it soon grows colder
And fades away like the morning dew
-------------
Love is pleasing
Oh love is teasing and love is pleasing
and love's a pleasure when first it is new
but as love grows older and length grows colder,
it fades away like the morning dew.
I left my mother, I left my father,
I left my brothers and sisters too.
I left my home and my kind relations,
I left them all for the love of you.
If I had known then before I courted
that love would be such a killing crime
I'd locked my heart in a box of gold
and tied it up with a silver twine.
(Oh love and porter make young men older
and love and whiskey make old men gray.
What can't be cured, love, must be endured, love,
what can't burn bright must fade away)
-------------
Jean Ritchie introduced "O Love Is Pleasin'" (learned from "an Irish girl in New York") to the USA as Side 1 Band 1 of her first Elektra (10") LP album in 1952—the opening song of her recording career.
1952 was the first time I heard the song, thanks to that record.
---------------
Gardham:
Love is Pleasin, the traditional song, is really a fragment or perhaps better described as a commonplace or floater in other lament/love songs of the type. It gained its own recognition as a song mainly in the folk revival since WWII. Similar pieces are 'I wish, I wish, but it's all in vain' which is often coupled with the 'LIP' stanza.
However the fragments have made such an impact that the late great Roy Palmer chose it for the title as one of his many folk song anthologies. The song inside the book at p22 with this title is again just a collection of 4 floaters with the LIP stanza as the chorus. The text is from Mrs Gulliver of Combe Florey, Somerset and collected by Hammond in 1905. His tune source simply says 'popular in folk clubs which is where he first heard it. And that goes for me as well.
I can post the lyrics if you wish but they will be easily found on the Full English website. Roud 1049. The manuscript calls it 'Love is Teasing'
-----------------
"Love Is Pleasin'" is an original song by Eddie Delahunt. Here's his allmusic.com biography:
Originally from Dublin, Ireland, singer/songwriter Eddie Delahunt immigrated to the United States in 1989 and settled in Missouri. He established a musical career by playing gigs in Kansas City and released his first CD, Travelin', in 2003. While he initially gained popularity by performing traditional Irish songs, Delahunt began writing original pieces and working them into his act; Original Sing!, his first album of original solo works, was released in 2006. It was followed in 2007 by Triur.
Dolly McMahon recorded this song on Claddagh Reords, 'Dolly' CC3 1966, tho' the title is 'Love is teasing'. I checked Claddagh today but they have no results for this fine traditonal singer. Near time Ceirníní Cladaigh produced her songs on cd. Denis Murphy:fiddle,Paddy Moloney:pipes & tin whistle, Michael Tubridy:flute & concertina on Dolly Mcmahon's lp.
Sleeve notes by Seán MacRéamoinn.
--------------------------
Title - Love is Teasing
Contributors - Lucy Stewart
Reporters - Prof. Kenneth Goldstein
Summary - The singer tells us:
Love it is teasin', love it is freezin' [sic]
A little while, [when] it is new,
But as it grows older it grows the colder
And it fades awa like the mornin dew.
The singer has been abandoned by her sweetheart since she fell pregnant by him, and now wishes that her baby was born, so that she might die of grief.
Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:03:36
Date Recorded - 1959.12
Language - English, Scots
Genre - Song
Collection - School of Scottish Studies
Track ID - 46994
Original Tape ID - SA1960.138
Original Track ID - SA1960.138.B1
Audio Quality - Good
Audio Format - R2R
Recording Location:
County - Aberdeenshire
Parish - Old Deer
Village - Fetterangus
Item Notes - 7 verses and choruses of 4 lines; last line of each verse repeated. Verse 4 repeated at Kenneth Goldstein's request. Cf. 'Waly Waly' and variants such as 'I Wish, I Wish', etc.
N.B. The Roud Folk Song Index has this contributor's version misclassified under Roud 3135.
See:
Greig-Duncan, vol. 6, p. 252
'Sam Henry's Songs of the People' (G. Huntington, 1990) p. 383
=================
Up Yon Wide and Lonely Glen: Travellers' Songs, Stories and Tunes of the -By Elizabeth Stewart [ also Lucy stewart]
Oh whit Needs I go Busk an Braw
Oh whit needs I go busk an braw
Roud 1049
Love is Pleasin' 2 stanza
I left my father I left my mother
i left brother's and sisters too.
Love is pleasin' and love is pleasing
Love is pleasin' when first it's new
---------------
Other more complete versions were collected by H. E. D. Hammond in Somerset in 1905 ("Love It Is Pleasing", HAM/2/1/23) and by Charles Gardiner in Hampshire in 1907 ("Love Is Teasing", GG/1/16/1002, both at the Full English). Interestingly most of the rest of the text is derived from another old broadside called "The Wheels of Fortune" that includes a variant form of one verse known from Ramsay's "Oh Waly, Waly" (Mu23-y1:104 and Mu23-y1:105 at Glasgow Broadside Ballads and Firth c.18(132) in the allegro Catalogue of Ballads, all undated, see also the version in Christie, Vol. 1, p. 260):
When I was young I was much beloved
By all the young men in the country ;
When I was blooming all in my blossom,
A false young lover deceived me.
He has tried his whole endeavor,
He has tried all his power and skill,
He has spoiled all my good behaviour,
He has broken my fortune against my will.
I did not think he was going to leave me,
Till the next morning when he came in;
Then he sat down and began a-talking,
Then all my sorrows did begin.
I left my father, I left my mother;
I left my sister and brothers too;
And all my friends and old aquaintance,
I left them all to go with you.
But turn you round, you wheel of fortune,
It's turn you round and smile on me;
For young men's words they are quite uncertain,
Which sad experience teaches me..
If I had known before I had courted,
That love had been so ill to win,
I wad locked my heart in a chest of gold,
And pon'd it with a silver pin.
Then fare-ye-weel, ye false-hearted young man,
It's fare-ye-weel, since we must part;
If you are the man that has broke my fortune,
You're not the man that shall break my heart.
Of all the flowers that grow in the garden,
Be sure you pull the rose and thyme,
For all others are quite out of fashion,
A false young man he has stole my thyme.
But time will toon put an end to all things,
And love will soon put an end to me;
But surely there is a place of torment,
To punish my lover for slighting me.
Love Is Teasing (Love Is Pleasing)
(Trad)
For love is teasing and love is pleasing
And love is a pleasure when first it's new
But as it grows older ach love grows colder
And fades away like the morning dew
I wished, I wished, oh I wished in vain
I wished I was a lad again
But lad again I can no more be
Than apples grow on an orange tree
When I was a young man I did not care
I drank the whisky night and morn
But since I've married that girl so fair
I rue the day that I was born
I wished, I wished that my bairn was born
And sitting on his mother's knee
And me poor boy I was dead and gone
The long green grass growing over me
(as sung by Alex Campbell)
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I were a maid again
But a maid again I can never be
Until apples grow on an ivy tree
For love is pleasing and love is teasing
And love is a treasure when first it's new
But as love grows older then love grows colder
And it fades away like the morning dew
There is an alehouse in the town
And there my love he sits him down
He takes a strange girl on his knee
And he tells her things that he once told me
For love and porter make a young girl older
And love and whiskey make her old and grey
And what cannot be cured, love, must be endured, love
And now I am bound for Amerikay
(instr.)
(instr.)
But as love grows older then love grows colder
And it fades away like the morning dew
(as sung by Marianne Faithfull on a Chieftains recording)
Love is teasing, love is pleasing
And love is a pleasure when first it's new
But as love grows old, love grows cold
And fades away like morning dew
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I were a maid again
But a maid again I ne'er can be
Till apples grow on an ivy tree
I leaned my back against some young oak
Thinking it was a trusty tree
First it bent and then it broke
So did my true love and me
I wish, I wish my babe was born
Sitting on its nurse's knee
And I poor girl was dead and gone
The long green grass growing over me
(as sung by Iain MacKintosh & Hamish Imlach)
Oh love is teasing and love is pleasing
And love is a treasure when first it's new
But as it grows older then love grows colder
And fades away like the morning dew
I left my father, I left my mother
I left my sisters and brothers too
I left my friends and my kind relations
I left them all for the love of you
Oh turn around love, you yield a fortune
Oh turn around love, and smile at me
Oh surely there must be a place of torment
For this young girl who deceived me
So lads beware of your false true lover
And never mind what the young girls say
They're like the stars on a foggy morning
You think they're near but they're far away
(as sung by The Spinners)
Susannes Folksong-Notizen
[1967:] We have suggested the majority of English songs tell a story or at least purport to. But there are also songs that are simply expressions of mood and nothing more. They are not numerous but they are confusing in their variety because they make use of a stock of symbolic or epigrammatic verses that are combined and re-combined in song after song, so that often it is hard to tell one piece from another. This stock of common-place lyrical 'floaters' [...] is relatively restricted, comprising perhaps not many more than fifty tropes in all [...]. The verses are usually concerned with love, especially love betrayed or denied, and a repertory of such verses provides a handy kit for making countless songs almost at will. [...] Fluid as the use of these floating stanzas may be, sets of them sometimes show signs of crystallizing into specific songs [e.g. Love Is Teasing]. [...] Few of these floationg lyrics are datable. They are the product of some sentimental flowering of the spirit, but whether they were all produced at the same period or represent the accretion of centuries would be hard to say. (Lloyd, England 178ff)
[1972:] [This] has long been a standard in the folk clubs of Britain. The tune is almost certainly of Irish origin, varied over the years, but the words tend to be 'zippers and floaters', found in a multitude of other settings. (Notes Spinners, 'Love Is Teasing')
[1974:] This was the first song I ever heard the Dubliners sing back in 1959. (Notes Noel Murphy, 'Murf')
[1977:] Probably started out in the south of England but by now is a hybrid. (Notes Jean Redpath, 'Ballad Folk')
[1982:] [For instance, refrain and verse 1 of the Alex Campbell version are] typical floating verses. These are verses that occur in a number of songs without any apparent connection with the story. Old-time audiences tended to like a song with plenty of verses, partly because it gave them a better opportunity to learn the tune, and floating verses were a useful way of 'padding'. (Pollard, Folksong 31f)
Love is pleasing, collected in the West Country and well known in Scotland, has some verses in common with Waly waly, of which two versions exist. It is possible that all these variants spring from one original ballad which has not been identified. (Pollard, Folksong 37)]
------------------------------------
Title - Love is Bonnie
Alternate Title - Love is Pleasing
Contributors - Willie Mathieson
Reporters - Hamish Henderson
Summary - The singer tells us: "Love is bonnie, bonnie, bonnie / A little whilie when it is new / As it grows older it aye grows colder / Fades away like the morning dew." She has been abandoned by her sweetheart since she fell pregnant by him, and now wishes that she were dead. She tells young women: "You're like dew on a summer's morning / That will never appear again," and warns them against "false young men".
Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:02:11
Date Recorded - 1952.01
Language - Scots
Genre - Song
Collection - School of Scottish Studies
Track ID - 2963
Original Tape ID - SA1952.004
Original Track ID - SA1952.04.B5 (B10)
Audio Quality - Good
Audio Format - R2R
Classification - GD1166; R1049;
Recording Location:
County - Aberdeenshire
Parish - Ellon
Village - Ellon
Item Notes - Text and music transcribed in School of Scottish Studies. 5 verses and choruses of 4 lines.
Willie Mathieson learned the song from his first wife.
Cf. 'Waly Waly' and variants such as 'I Wish, I Wish', etc. N.B. The Roud Folksong Index has this contributor's version misclassified under no. 3135.
See:
Willie Mathieson's MS I:187
Greig-Duncan, vol. 6, p. 252
'Sam Henry's Songs of the People' (G. Huntington, 1990) p. 383
Permanent Link - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/2963/1