US & Canada Versions 7K. Love is Teasing (Love Is Pleasing) Roud 1049 Other titles: Love is Lovely; Keg of Brandy; Love is Fair; Love is Sweet; Love is Easy
[The Love is Teasing stanza has been known as a stanza found in North America in number of folk songs with a modified first line. Here are three examples, the first dates back to 1845:
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[1].
O love is warming, O love is charming,
Love 's quite handsome while it 's new!
But as love grows older, love grows colder,
And fades away like the morning dew[2].
Love is handsome, love is charming,
Love is beauty while it's new;
Love grows older, love grows colder,
Fades away like morning dew[3]
The modified love is Teasing stanza is aligned with "Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies" also known as "Little Sparrow" which borrows from several antecedents in the Waly, Waly family-- the main one is a broadside from the early 1700s titled "Wheel of Fortune." The first known version with the Love is Teasing title recorded in the US was the collected by Jean Ritchie in NYC in 1947 from the singing of Peggy Stanton, who learned it in Co. Sligo, Eire[4]:
Love is Teasin'
Love is teasing, love is pleasing
Love is a jewel when first 'tis new
But love grows older then waxes colder
And fades away like morning dew.
I left my father, I left my mother
I left my brothers and sisters too
I left my home and kind relations
I left them all just to follow you.
O, if I'd known before I courted
That love had-a been such a killin' thing
I'd have locked my heart in a box of golden
And pinned it up with a silver pin.
I never thought when love was a-borning
That it would grow wings and fly away
How many a bright sunshiny morning
Turns out a dark and a dreary day.
So girls, beware of false true lovers
And never mind what they do or say
They're like the stars on a summer's morning
You think they're near and they're far away.
Love is teasing, love is pleasing
Love is a jewel when first 'tis new
But love grows older then waxes colder
And fades away like morning dew.
The other stanzas except for the "warning stanza" appear similarly in Wheel of Fortune. Ritchie recorded the song for an LP on the Electra label and it was releases in 1952. "Love is Teasin'" was published in as "Love Is Pleasing," by Alan Lomax in his "Folk Songs of North America," No. 70, p. 136 with music. Lomax changed Ritchie's third verse by substituting a similar verse of Fair and Tender Ladies he collected in its place:
If I'd knowed before 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.
The "love is a killing thing" or "killing crime" has been used stanzas of folk songs particularly in the African-American community. The first example is from Thomas Talley's 1922 book "Negro Folk Rhymes":
LOVE IS JUST A THING OF FANCY
Love is jes a thing o' fancy,
Beauty's jes a blossom;
If you wants to git yo' finger bit,
Stick it at a 'possum.
E.C. Perrow collected an earlier version from an African-American in Virginia in 1912:
Love it am a killin' thing,
Beauty am a blossom;
Ef yuh want tuh get yuh finger bit,
Poke it at a 'possum.
It also appears as a floating stanza in "Bile Dem Cabbage Down" and in the song "Mabel":
Love it is a an awful thing
And beauty is a blossum,
If you want your finger bit
Just poke it at a 'possum.
The English song "I'm Often Drunk and Seldom Sober" has been found in Newfoundland with the changed "Love is Pleasing" stanza. The Peacock version begins: "Oh love is lovely, oh love is charming," which is used as a chorus. The song is also known as "Keg of Bandy" from the opening line. Peacock titled the song, "Love is Lovely" which he collected in 1958 from Isaac Freeman Bennett [1896-1981] of St Paul's, Newfoundland. I give the text in full:
I laid my head on a keg of brandy,
It was my fancy I do declare;
But while I'm drinking 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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!
Notice that stanza 4 is the identifying stanza for "Water is Wide" also found in the "I'm Often Drunk" broadside and that stanza 3 is a reworked stanza from Died for Love. Stanza 1 is a chorus in the Irish "Keg of Brandy," from the 1980s which is similar to the Newfoundland text- both are variants of "I'm Always Drunk." "Love is Lovely" is listed as although it's clearly a separate variant with text from "I'm Often Drunk."Many of the Newfoundland songs and ballads are quite old, dating back to the late 1700s and early to mid 1800s when they were brought over from the UK. Only three other fragments from the US have been found (Sharp and Sharp's MS; Obray Ramsey) while a complete version similar to Ritchie's version was collected in Ontario from Mrs. Frasier by Fowke around 1960. A version was sung at a West Virginia music festival that was published with tune and additional text by Michael Bush in 1971.
R. Matteson 2017]
__________________________________________
Footnotes:
1. Stanza from Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion (1845).
2. From "Youth and Folly," Cox, Folk Songs of the South, 1925.
3. From "Young Ladies," Cox, Folk Songs of the South, 1925.
4. Details were provided from Ritchie post on Mudcat Forum.
__________________________________________
"William Hall" English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, No. 171, version D . vol. II, p. 242.
Love it is an awful thing and beauty is a blossom, and if you want your finger bit, just poke it at a possum.
----------------
Love Is a Treasure from Dale G. Hardman of Provo Utah, wife Margaret
When I was young, I was well- belov-ed
By a false young men in the coun-tory
While I was roving 'neath tender blossoms
This false young man, he deceiv-ed me.
[Chorus] Young gents, they are teasing, young maids are pleasing
Love is a treasure while it is new.
But as it grows older, it still grows colder
Till it fades away like the morning dew.
He did not tell me he was going to leave me
Until one night he came walking in.
He sat him down and began to tell me
'Twas then my troubles they did begin
Hardman Family Songbook
· 18 October 2013 ·
Hardman Family Songbook
***Note: Although I contributed this to this website, the actual songbook was lovingly compiled by my cousin, Daniel Hardman.
Foreword
Every family has a culture; for the Dale and Margaret Hardman clan, an important part of that culture has always been singing. Grandpa told me once that he acquired his love of classical music when he worked as an usher *** janitor at a theater at Brigham Young Academy--but his familiarity with cowboy folk songs surely began much earlier. Grandma’s trademark warble in the kitchen was inimitable and unmistakable; she never cooked without a melody, often of her own making.
I have vivid memories of riding to church events, to the Milwaukee Zoo, to the EAA air show, to the boat harbor, and to sundry other locations in the back of the old blue “bear” station wagon, the LTD, Grandpa’s succession of red and white Ford pickups, and Grandma’s gold Dodge Dart. Things were spread out enough that we did a lot of driving.
Although the vehicles rotated, the method of keeping time to the rolling mile markers never did.
We sang.
--------------------------------
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
----------------
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.
[fair and tender ladies] lomac
Love is pleasing
'The Folk Songs of North America' Doubleday 1960, p 205.
Oh love is teasing and love is pleasing
and love's a pleasure when first it is new
but as love grows older at length grows colder,
And 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'd knowed before 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)
-----------------------
The Kingdom of Madison: A Southern Mountain Fastness and Its People
https://books.google.com/books?id=_FhEAAAAYAAJ
Manly Wade Wellman - 1996 - Snippet view - More editions
Other verses sting the folklorist to rapt attention:
Oh, love is fair and love is charming,
And The Kingdom of Madison: A Southern Mountain Fastness and Its People by Manly Wade Wellman - 1996 -
Manly Wade Wellman (May 21, 1903 – April 5, 1986
Other verses sting the folklorist to rapt attention:
Oh, love is fair and love is charming,
And love is pretty when it is new;
When it grows older, love grows colder
And fades away like the morning dew.
But had I known before I courted
That you That you would be so cruel to me,
I'd put my heart in a golden locket
And locked it with a silver key.
Obray Ramsey learned it from his grandmother. Sharp noted, in Come, All You Fair and Tender Ladies, couplets
-----------------
22 FOLK-SONGS OF THE SOUTH
141
YOUTH AND FOLLY
This song is a counterpart to "Little Sparrow," from which it has borrowed
certain stanzas (see p. 419). In "Youth and Folly" the young man is the suf-
ferer. Stanza 2 belongs to the famous Scottish song, "0 Waly, Waly, gin Love
be Bonny" (see Child, iv, 92, 93), but occurs also in some texts of "Little Spar-
row." Cf. Sharp, One Hundred English Folksongs, No. 39; Folk-Songs from
Somerset, in, $y, Journal of the Irish Folk-Song Society, vra, 16. For stanza 5
cf. "Maggie Goddon" (p. 424). The first stanza corresponds to the last of
"Young Riley" in modern English broadsides (Catnach; Such, No. 83; Fortey) ;
see "George Reilly" (p. 313).
Communicated by Miss Lalah Lovett, Bulltown, Braxton County, 1916;
obtained from John N. Wine, who learned it from his father.
1 Youth and folly make youngsters marry,
And when they're married they must obey;
For many a bright and sunshiny morning
Has turned to a dark and rainy day.
2 O love is warming, O love is charming,
Love 's quite handsome while it 's new !
But as love grows older, love grows colder,
And fades away like the morning dew.
3 It was all in the sweet month of April,
While summer flowers were in their bloom,
Trees were budding, sweet birds were singing:
Times ain't with me as they have been.
4 Great Jehovah, have mercy on me !
My comrades, come to set me free;
I never courted but one fair lady;
Her name was Polly, she told me.
5 Polly, O Polly, you are my darling!
Come set yourself down awhile by me,
And tell to me the very reason
Why I was slighted so by thee.
6 I am in love, I dare not own it,
The very pain lies on my breast;
I am in love, and the whole world knows it,
That a troubled mind can find no rest.
7 I wish to God I never had seen you,
Or in my cradle I had died;
To think as nice a young man as I am
Should be in love and be denied.
8 I wish I was on some stormy ocean,
As far from land as I could be;
And sailing for some better country
Where there no grief could trouble me.
------------------
FOLK-SONGS OF THE SOUTH 4I9
140
YOUNG LADIES (LITTLE SPARROW)
American texts of this song (sometimes called "Little Sparrow") have been
printed or recorded as follows: Journal, xxix, 184 (Tolman; one stanza in an
Indiana version of " There is a Tavern in the Town"), 200 (Rawn and Peabody;
Georgia) ; Wyman and Brockway, p. 55 (Kentucky) ; Campbell and Sharp, No.
65 (North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee) ; McGill, p. 23 (Kentucky) ; Sharp,
American-English Folk-Songs, 1st Series, p. 32 (the same as Campbell and
Sharp, No. 65 A); Child MSS., 1, 84 (North Carolina); Minish MS., ill, 35
(North Carolina); Belden, No. ^d> (Missouri); Shearin and Combs, p. 26
(Kentucky).
The piece is somehow related to the celebrated Scottish song "0 Waly, Waly,
gin Love be Bonny" (Child, rv, 92), printed in the early part of the eighteenth
century, but even then regarded as old. Stanza 3 of the Scottish song corre-
sponds to West Virginia A 8, B 3; stanza 9 (not in the West Virginia texts) to
lines 17-20 of the Wyman text (McGill, stanza 5; Campbell and Sharp, B 5,
and the sole stanza of E; Minish, stanza 5). "Waly, Waly" stands in close
relation to "James Douglas" (Child, No. 204).
"Young Ladies." Communicated by Mr. J. H. Shaffer, Newburg, Preston
County, who obtained it from Mrs. A. R. Fike, Terra Alta.
1 Come all ye fair and handsome ladies,
Take warning how you court young men;
For they 're like a bright star on a summer's morning,
They first appear and then they 're gone.
2 They 'll tell to you some flattering story,
And swear to God that they love you well,
And away they'll go and court some other,
And leave you here in grief to dwell.
3 I wish to God I never had seen him,
Or in his cradle he had died;
For to think so fair and handsome lady,
Was one in love and be denied.
4 I wish I was in some tall mountain,
Where the ivy rock is black as ink;
I would write a letter to my false lover,
Whose cheeks are like the morning pink.
5 I wish I was some little sparrow,
And one of them that could fly so high;
I would fly away to my true love's dwelling,
And when he would speak I would be close by.
6 1 would flutter in his bosom
With my little [ex] tended wings;
I would ask him, I would ask him,
Whose tender heart he had tried to stain.
7 My troubles now are just beginning,
My troubles like some mountain tall;
O I 'll sit down in grief and sorrow,
And there I'll talk my troubles o'er.
8 Love is handsome, love is charming,
Love is beauty while it's new;
Love grows older, love grows colder,
Fades away like morning dew.
No local title. Communicated by Mr. Guy Overholt, Erwin, Preston County,
who obtained it from Mr. Ralph Buckley, Buckeye, Pocahontas County.
i Come all ye fair and handsome ladies,
Be careful how you trust young men,
For they are like a star upon a summer's morning,
They disappear and then are gone.
2 They tell to you some tattling stories,
And then declare they love you well;
This is the way they go and love some other,
And leave you in this world to mourn.
3 O love is handsome, love is charming,
And love is pretty while it lasts;
But love grows cold as love grows older,
And fades away like morning dew.
4 I wish to God I never had seen him,
Or in my cradle I had died,
To think a fair and handsome lady,
Was stricken with love and then denied.
I wish I were on some tall mountain,
Where the marble stones are black as ink ;
I 'd write a letter to my false lover,
Whose cheeks are like the morning pink.
If I were just a little sparrow,
Or some of those that fly so high,
I'd fly away to my false lover,
And when he 'd speak I would deny.
But I am none of those little sparrows,
Or none of those that fly so high,
So I'll sit down in grief and sorrow,
And pass all my troubles by.
------------------
version of Peggy Gordon.
MAGGIE GODDON
Contributed by Mr. W. E. Boggs, Matewan, Mingo County, 1918. Learned
about forty years ago from his brother, who was killed shortly after at Ashland,
Kansas, by cowboys. Compare "Youth and Folly" (p. 422).
1 I wish I was once a-sailing
As far from land as far could be,
Far across the deep blue waters,
Where I have no one to trouble me.
Chorus : Sweet Maggie Goddon, you are my bride;
Come set you down upon my knee;
Tell to me the very reason
Why I was slighted just by thee.
2 The sea is deep, I can't swim over,
Neither have I the wings to fly;
There I hear some jolly sportsman,
To carry over the love and I.
3 I wish I had a glass of brandy,
I '11 tell to you the reason why :
While drinking, I am thinking,
Does my true love remember me?
-------------
Peggy says she learned the tune of "Love Is Teasing" from the influential traditional singer, Jean Ritchie. Jean sings it in her "high lonesome" Appalachian style but actually learned "O Love Is Teasin'" (her version of the song) in 1946 from Peggy Staunton, an Irish kitchen and dining-room worker at New York City's Henry Street Settlement. Jean, a young social worker from Kentucky, lived at the Settlement's dorm when she first arrived in the city. As Jean reminisces in an internet discussion on Mudcat Café (topical thread "New Book/CD: 'The Rose & The Briar'"), "we used to swap songs and jig-steps in the dining room after everybody else had gone."
The words of "Love is Teasing" resemble those found in three similar songs, "O Waly, Waly," "The Water is Wide," and "Down in the Meadows" and all of these can be traced back to the ballad "Jamie Douglas" (Child 204). In "Jamie Douglas," a bride has been falsely accused of infidelity and is sent back to her father with an aching heart. All of the shorter songs have whittled away the narrative over time leaving nothing but an emotional core. Various versions journeyed back and forth between Ireland, Britain, and North America, and singers often augment whatever verses they have learned with others from a common stock of associated "floating" verses. Peggy has done this here, giving her unique stamp to a universal emotion. Songs of this sort, in which narrative plays no role and emotions are conveyed through rich imagery, are called lyric songs and play an important role in British and American repertoire.
For further bibliographical reference and recordings consult:
The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World
www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/K149.html
Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Resources
www.ibiblio.org/folkindex/l12.htm - Loviste
lyrics
05 LOVE IS TEASING
words and music: traditional USA
O. Love is Teasin'© Arr., additional words, music, Jean Ritchie. From the singing of Peggy Stanton (born Co. Sligo, Eire) at Henry St. Settlement, NYC, in 1947.
Love is teasing, love is pleasing
Love is a jewel when first 'tis new
But love grows older then waxes colder
And fades away like morning dew.
I left my father, I left my mother
I left my brothers and sisters too
I left my home and kind relations
I left them all just to follow you.
O, if I'd known before I courted
That love had-a been such a killin' thing
I'd have locked my heart in a box of golden
And pinned it up with a silver pin.
I never thought when love was a-borning
That it would grow wings and fly away
How many a bright sunshiny morning
Turns out a dark and a dreary day.
So girls, beware of false true lovers
And never mind what they do or say
They're like the stars on a summer's morning
You think they're near and they're far away.
Love is teasing, love is pleasing
Love is a jewel when first 'tis new
But love grows older then waxes colder
And fades away like morning dew.
credits
from Love Call Me Home, released April 26, 2005
____________________________
Missing versions:
Love is Easy
Roud Folksong Index (S153360)
First Line: Over hills and far-off mountains
Source: Edith Fowke Coll. (FO 21)
Performer: Fraser, Mrs. Arlie
Date: 1962 (Aug)
Place: Canada : Ontario : Lancaster
Collector: Fowke, Edith
Love is Easy
Roud Folksong Index (S153359)
First Line: Love is easy, love is pleasing
Source: Edith Fowke Coll. (FO 18)
Performer: Fraser, Mrs. Arlie
Date: 1961 (Aug)
Place: Canada : Ontario : Lancaster
Collector: Fowke, Edith
---------
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
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