Come All Ye False Lovers

DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye false lovers That love all alike; Give love-ly attention, And my counsel take." The singer will wait for Johnny to return, however long it takes. He eventually arrives, and they are married.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967
KEYWORDS: love separation return
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Combs/Wilgus-FolkSongsOfTheSouthernUnitedStates 135, pp. 147-148, "Come All Ye False Lovers" (1 text)
Roud #4297
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
NOTES [71 words]: This piece is clearly composite; there are many floating lyrics, and it shifts from first to third person in the middle. It appears to be a pastiche of Riley ballads (though the theme of disguise has been lost), with the moral ("Beware of false lovers; (don't ever give up on your true love") at the beginning.
Since it cannot be identified with any particular Riley ballad, I have perforce given it its own classification. - RBW
File: CW147

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