"Love Is Teasing" originated in the British Isles or Ireland. It represents a type of folk song which is usually concerned with love or love betrayed that contains "floater" verses, that is, verses that appear in many folk songs. "Love Is Teasing" appears to have been created out of an amalgamation of such floater verses. This verse, or something very similar to it, appear in all versions of the song collected under the name "Love Is Teasing":
Love is teasing, love is pleasing And love is a pleasure when first it's new But as love grows old, love grows cold And fades away like morning dew.