Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Burning of the School

DESCRIPTION: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school, We have tortured every teacher, we have broken every rule." The students describe (with many variations) how they overthrew the scholastic regime
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal)
KEYWORDS: rebellion derivative
FOUND IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 100, "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Burning of the School" (1 text with many variants, tune referenced)
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 100, "(Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of teacher)," "(Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school)" (2 texts)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #153, "Glory, glory, hallelujah, Teacher hit me with a ruler" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Gloria Dickens, "Childhood Songs from North Carolina" Vol. XXI, No. 1 (Apr 1973), p. 8, "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Nancy Hunnicutt and Donna Southards, "The Foxfire Music Program," Vol. XXVI, No. 1 (May 1978), p. 29, "(Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school)" (1 text, tune referenced)
DT, BURNSCHL
ST PHCFS100 (Full)
Roud #30929
RECORDINGS:
Travis Johnson, "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #507, recorded 03/08/2023)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Brown's Body" (tune)
cf. "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Horror of the Ending of the Term"
NOTES [83 words]: I wonder if this isn't the most popular folk song in America today.
Roud used to lump this with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," from which it is patently derived, but it is clearly a separate song now, sung by many children who do not know the Battle Hymn. Even I heard it at some time in my youth. The Hunnicutt and Southards article says that all children know it. I'm surprised that Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes lists only one version, but probably most versions are not used for rope-skipping. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: PHCFS100

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