The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #76307   Message #1354971
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
12-Dec-04 - 05:25 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Love Is Pleasing
Subject: Lyr Add: OH, JOHNNY, JOHNNY (from Sam Henry)
A nice version of this song with 1001 names and versions, from Sam Henry.

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.