> Folk Music > Songs > Wheel of Fortune

The False Lover / Wheel of Fortune

[ Roud 1075 / Song Subject MAS1445 ; G/D 6:1173 ; Henry H790 ; Ballad Index HHH790 ; Bodleian Roud 1075 ; Wiltshire 881 ; Mudcat 161552 , 161981 ; trad.]

Fred Hamer: Garners Gay Gale Huntington: Sam Henry’s Songs of the People

Jez Lowe sang Wheel of Fortune in 1980 on his eponymous Fellside album Jez Lowe. This track was also included in 1994 on the Fellside anthologies Banklands (1994) and Men Folk (2005). He noted:

A version of this song was printed as a broadside by Hoggotts of Durham in the last century, and more recently in the journals of the EFDSS, though the melody here is slightly adapted.

Bram Taylor sang Wheel of Fortune in 1986 on his Fellside album Dreams and Songs to Sing. This track was also included in 1999 on his Fellside anthology Singing!. He noted:

Jez Lowe and Ged Foley from the North East compiled this song as a potpourri of verses from other traditional songs. The tune has been adapted and the words captivate me as I hope they will you.

George Sansome sang The Wheel of Fortune as a download only bonus track of his and Sophie Crawford’s 2026 album Queer Folk Songs. This video shows him in September 2021 during their Alan James Creative Bursary Residency at Cecil Sharp House in London:

Lyrics

Jez Lowe sings Wheel of Fortune

It’s after the morn there comes the evening,
After the evening another day.
And after a false love comes another,
It’s hard to keep them who will away.

Chorus (after each verse):
So turn you round you wheel of fortune,
Turn you round and smile on me.
Loving words are quite uncertain,
Sad experience teaches me.

If I had known before I courted
Love was oh so cruel to win,
I’d have locked my heart in a box of golden
And tied it with a silver pin.

Do you recall our days of fortune
With your sweet head laid on my breast?
You could make me believe with a touch of your hand
The morning sun rose in the west.

Winter brings an end to summer,
Green leaves fall from every tree.
Time will bring an end to all things,
Love will bring an end to me.

George Sansome sings The Wheel of Fortune

When I was young i was well beloved
By all young men in this country.
When I was blooming all in my blossom
A false young lover deceived me.

And he has tried all his whole endeavour
And he has tried all his power and skill
And he has spoiled all my good behaviour,
He broke my fortune against my will.

I did not know he was going to leave me
Till the next morning when he came in.
Then he sat down and began a-talking,
And all my sorrows they did begin.

I left my father, I left my mother,
I left my sister and brother too.
I left my friends and old aquaintance,
I left them all to go forth with you.

But had I known all before I courted
That love would be so ill to win,
I’d have locked my heart in a chest of gold
And I’d sealed it with a silver pin.

But turn you round, o you wheel of fortune,
O turn you round now and smile on me.
For young men’s words they are quite uncertain
Which sad experience teaches me.

So fare you well, you false-hearted young man,
O fare you well now, since we must part.
If you are the man that has broke my fortune
You’re not the man that shall break my heart.

For after morning there comes the evening,
And after evening a bonny day.
And after false love there comes another
We cannot hold them that wheel away.