“False, False Hae Ye Been To Me, My Love”

Description

The singer laments that her love is false, ans says "I'm afraid that you're ne'er mair mine." She compares her fate to climbing a tree too high, or rowing against a stream. She says she will yet climb a still taller tree and come down to a true love

Notes

MacColl and Seeger note that this is a member of the large class of betrayal songs combined with a demand for, or a curse of, the impossible; "The False Young Man" is another song with this sort of thing. They note that the final stanza, about climbing a higher tree, floats (though it doesn't always show up in the songs they list). But they also regard this as a separate song.

I incline to agree. While it is a typical item of this type, the lyrics are unusual enough to warrant separate classification. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out)"

References

1. MacSeegTrav 60, "False, False Hae Ye Been To Me, My Love" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
2. DT, FALSTOME*
3. Roud #8276
4. BI, McCST060