(When I Was No but) Sweet Sixteen

When I was no but sweet sixteen

With beauty just a-blooming-o

It's little, little did I think

At nineteen I'd be greeting-o

For the ploughboy lads, they're gey braw lads

But they're false and they're deceiving-o

For they'll take your all and gang awa

And leave their lasses grieving-o

Oh, I was fond of company

And gave the ploughboys freedom-o

To kiss and clap me in the dark

When all my friends were sleeping-o

For the ploughboy lads, they're gey braw lads

But they're false and they're deceiving-o

For they'll take your all and they'll gang awa

And leave their lasses grieving-o

But if I had kent that I now ken

And taken my mother's bidding-o

Oh, I wouldn't be sitting by our fireside

Crying hushabye my bairnie-o

For the ploughboy lads, they're gey braw lads

But they're false and they're deceiving-o

For they'll take your all and they'll gang awa

And leave their lasses grieving-o

And it's hushaba for I'm your ma

But the Lord knows who's your daddy-o

So it's girls beware and you take care

Of the ploughboys in the gloaming-o

For the ploughboy lads they're gey braw lads

But they're false and they're deceiving-o

For they'll take your all, they'll gang awa

And leave their lasses grieving-o