Hi,

With some trepidation I'm proceeding on with some related versions. This variant is "Love is Pleasing" or, "Love is Teasing" which appears to be old - this first stanza from Lucy Stewart dates back-- by my estimation-- to the late 1700s at least. I can't hear the end of that stanza- so I'll put a link. The association with Waly, Waly is clear and her third stanza has been traced to the early to mid- 1500s.

Listen: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/gd/play/46994;jsessionid=5F02D24184955117B06896608D08E06D

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.]

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 my false love tae me
And shaded my false love tae me

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.
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, [stops]

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,
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.

The first verse as given by Burns who must have heard it in the late 1700s:

O wherefore should I busk my head?        
Or wherefore should I kame my hair?        
For my true Love has me forsook,        
And says he'll never lo'e me mair.        

Why "busk an braw"? What's a definition? Will someone ck and correct my quick transcription?

I'm not sure how to separate this from Waly, but assume Love is Teasin' is considered a separate yet related song. In "Stewart Style, 1513-1542: Essays on the Court of James V" comes this stanza:

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.

which continues:

Underneath the grein wood trie
Ther thy good love bidis thee,

whyll= while

Not sure how all this fits together yet. Anyone have some ideas? Certainly Waly was attached to Jamie Douglas and two stanzas are in common- what about the Burns then?

TY

Richie