serendipity - today I was reading an article in the Dec 2009 issue of 'History Today' about a BBC Radio Four production "A history of Private Life" where it mentioned a "previously unrecorded ballad, the crushingly sad Housewife's Lament: 'There's nothing that pays as the time you waste on it/And nothing is as I would wish it to be'. " The ballad was recorded for the documentary.

All I could find on line was the article A History of Private Life Deborah Cohen reviews a radio production presented by Amanda Vickery

Then I opened Mudcat & find a thread about a song with the same title, but it's not the same song, fooey.

I'll have to see if I an listen to the programs sometime.

sandra