Love is Teasin' Lucy Stewart (Aber) 1959 Argo
[School of Scottish Studies, two recordings 1959, 1961 by John Argo. Brief notes follow. Two transcriptions also titled by 1st line: Oh whit needs I go busk an' braw. On the 1959 recording Lucy stops on 4th stanza, this was not notated.
The opening stanza is similar to the 4th stanza of Waly Waly:
4 O wherefore shoud I busk my head?
Or wherf ore shoud I kame my hair?
For my true-love has me forsook,
And says he'll never love me mair.
Busk, Verb. to furnish, array, make ready.
Listen: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/gd/play/46994;jsessionid=5F02D24184955117B06896608D08E06D
R. Matteson 2017]
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.
Love is Teasin' - sung in December, 1959 by Lucy Stewart of Aberdeenshire.
Oh whit needs I go busk an' braw
Oh whit needs I tae cam my hair
Whne my false lover has me forsaken
And he says he'll never love me [any] mair,
And he says he'll never love me [any] mair.
I leaned my back into an oak [aik]
I thought it was a truty tree
At first it stood till its branches grew
And shaded by false love tae me
And shaded by false love tae me
Love it is teasin', love it is freezin',
A little while, [when] it is new,
But as it grows older, it grows the colder
And it fades awa' like the mornin dew.
And it fades awa' like the mornin dew.
Oh when my aperon was tae me shin,
My love he keepit my company,
But noo my aperon is tae my chin,
And he passes the door and he never looks in,
And he passes the door and he never looks in.
I wish my baby it was born,
And sit upon the nurse's knee,
And me in the grave now was laid
And the green, green grass waving over me
And the green, green grass waving over me.
I wish I wish in vain,
I wish I was a maid again,
But a maid again I ne'er can be
Till the orange grows on the apple tree
Till the orange grows on the apple tree.
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2nd version 1961:
Love is Teasin'
Oh whit needs I go busk an' braw
Oh whit needs I tae cam my hair
When my false lover has me forsaken
And he says he'll never love me [any] mair,
And he says he'll never love me [any] mair.
O love it is teasin', O love it is freezin',
A little while, [when] it is new,
But as it grows older, it grows the colder
And it fades awa' like the mornin dew.
And it fades awa' like the mornin dew.
I leaned my back into an oak [aik]
I thought it was a trusty tree
At first it stood till its branches grew
And shaded my false love tae me
And shaded my false love tae me.
Oh when my aperon it come down,
My love he keepit my company,
But noo my aperon is tae my chin,
And he passes the door and he never looks in,
He passes the door and he never looks in.
I wish my baby it was born,
And sit upon the nurse's knee,
And me in the grave now was laid
And the green, green grass waving over me
And the green, green grass waving over me.
Love it is teasin', love it is freezin'
A little while, [when] it is new,
But as it grows older, it grows the colder
And it fades awa' like the mornin dew.
And it fades awa' like the mornin dew.
I wish I wish in vain,
I wish I was a maid again,
But a maid again I ne'er can be
Till the orange grows on the apple tree
Till the orange grows on the apple tree.