| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
346 Indiana University Publications, Folklore Series
89 THE UNCONSTANT LOVER
Additional texts will be found in Campbell and Sharp, II, 177 (see also pp. 97 and 123 for stanzas incorporated into other songs); Cox, p. 425; Herd, Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, 1776, II, 180; Journal, XLIV, 84; XLV, 104, 105; Journal of the Irish Folk-Song Society, IV, 33; Sharp, Folk-Songs of England, I, 25; Randolph, The Ozarks, p. 187; Cambiaire, East Tennessee and Western Virginia Mountain Ballads, p. 38. For references to other English and American versions, see Journal, XXX, 349-52.
From a MS collection in the possession of Mrs. T. M. Bryant, of Evansville, Indiana. Written by Viola A. Cox, of Scalesville, Indiana, in 1887. Warrick County. August 4, 1936.
1. 0 Billy, 0 Billy, what makes you say so,
For I love my old father and mother also, |
||
|
And o'er this wide world with a darling boy go.
2. My friends and relation will mourn for my sake;
They say I have left them and followed a rake. I will prove them all liars by the powers above;
There is nothing can save me but an innocent love.
3. To meeting, to meeting, to meeting, Til go
To see young Jimmy, a boy that I know. A meeting is a pleasure, but parting is grief,
And an unconstant lover is worse than a thief.
4. A thief can but rob you of that you have
And an unconstant lover will turn you to the grave. The grave will consume you and turn you to dust;
There's not one man in twenty a poor girl can trust.
5. The cuckoo is a pretty bird, she sings as she flies;
She brings us good news, and she tells us no lies. She sucks all sweet flowers to make her sing clear, And she never sings "cuckoo" till summer is near. |
||