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 they'll gang awa',
And they leave their lasses grieving o.
O 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 they leave their lasses grieving o.
But if I had kent that I now ken
And ta'en my mother's bidding o,
I wouldna 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 they leave their lasses grieving o.
It's hushaba for I'm your ma,
But the Lord kens who's your daddy o,
But I'll take care and I'll beware
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,
And they'll gang awa',
And they leave their lasses grieving o.