KISSIN' IN THE DARK
1.
For lang I courted Jeannie,
And wroucht wi' micht and main,
To get a puckle siller
And a biggin' o' my ain;
Ilka nicht I gaed to see her,
Be it late or be it mirk;
And when she cam' to meet me,
I wid kiss her in the dark.
[Cho.] The dark, the dark,
The dark, the dark, the dark;
And when she cam' to meet me,
I wid kiss her in the dark.

2.
Ae nicht I gaed to see her,
And my Jeannie bein' frae hame,
I slippit tae the window,
And rattled at the pane;
Oot cam' Jeannie's midder,
And the nicht it bein' sae dark,
I took her in my airms,
And kissed her in the dark.
[Cho.]


3.
She ruggit and she tuggit,
And she tried to won awa'
But I held her aye the closer,
Ay, and gid her idder twa.
Then oot she burst a-lauchin'
Says, "This is afa wark,
Tae touzle an auld body,
And tae kiss her in the dark."
[Cho.]

4.
Then I made for rinnin',
But she held me sure and fast;
Says, "Ye needna be sae hurry, lad,
The secret's oot at last.
Jeannie's doon at Auntie's,
And she'll get an awfu' start,
When I tell her foo ye touzled me,
And kissed me in the dark."
[Cho.]

5.
I stopped wi' Jeannie's mither,
Till my Jeannie did come hame,
She tell't her a' the story,
Which I thocht an afa shame;
But noo I have gotten Jeannie,
After a' the coortin' wark;
And there's few that lands sae lucky
Wi' their kissin' in the dark.
[Cho.]

6.
We hadna lang been marriet
When Jeannie's mither grew ill;
She sent me for a lawyer,
She was gaen to mak' her will.
She has left me a' her siller,
And made mony a remark;
For I got the auld wife's blessin'
For the kissin' in the dark.
[Cho.]
— The chorus repeats the last 2 lines of each stanza. The above from Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, article #cii; Ord's text is very close. The meaning of the words is I think fairly clear from the context, but one or two may puzzle: — puckle = a little bit; biggin = building, farmhouse; touzle = hug, more or less. Foo = north-east pronunciation of "hou", = "how". The song must date from the 1870s, or so, I should think.