I am woman, hear me roar...
The closing song at mass last Sunday was, "Glory, Glory, Halleluia" and that made me remember the version we sang as kids on the school bus. As I leaned over and quietly sang the "right" lyrics in Nathan's ear, he looked at me as if I had two (maybe even three) heads. I was chagrined to hear my kids swear they had never heard these words before; I know I taught them, but I obviously did not drill them daily, as I should have.
I climbed those bus steps every morning and afternoon, and it seems to me that the music was an afternoon bus ride kind of thing. I don't remember singing in the morning. The bus driver would have a radio up front by her, and it would be playing what was probably WVJS. I was in the first grade in 1972, and the kids on my bus sang all the time. We not only sang the classic school bus songs, we sang the radio hits of the day. I vividly recall the bus ride home, windows down, hair blowing in my face, hands clutching the back of the seat in front of me, bouncing up and down and singing at the top of my lungs. Two songs that I remember singing are "I Am Woman," by Helen Reddy and "The Night Chicago Died," by Paper Lace. I suppose there were some high schoolers on the bus, given the song selection. I can only imagine what "I Am Woman" sounded like sung by a group of elementary school kids. On a bus, no less. I'll bet the bus driver went home and told her husband about it. I wish I could have witnessed it.
The "normal" bus songs we sang were "Glory, Glory, Halleluia," "On Top of Spaghetti," and "Halls of Highland School." "Glory, Glory, Halleluia" went like this:
My eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school,
We have tortured every teacher, we have broken every rule.
We massacred the office, and we hung the principal.
Our truth is marching on!
Glory, glory, halleluia!
Teacher hit me with a ruler.
I popped her in the butt with a rotten coconut,
and she ain't my teacher no more!
Oh, we loved that one. And then there was "On Top of Spaghetti":
On top of spaghetti,
All covered with cheese,
I lost my poor meatball,
When somebody sneezed.
It rolled off the table,
And on to the floor,
And then my poor meatball,
Rolled out of the door.
It rolled in the garden,
And under a bush,
And then my poor meatball,
Was nothing but mush.
The mush was as tasty
As tasty could be,
And then the next summer,
It grew into a tree.
The tree was all covered,
All covered with moss,
And on it grew meatballs,
And tomato sauce.
So if you eat spaghetti,
All covered with cheese,
Hold on to your meatball,
Whenever you sneeze.
And who could ever forget "100 Bottles of Beer" and "This Old Man"? My personal favorite, though, was "From the Halls of Highland School," which was sung to the tune of "Marine's Hymn":
From the halls of Highland School,
to the shores of Bubble Gum Bay.
We will fight our teacher's battles,
with spit balls, pencils and clay.
We will fight for longer recess,
and to keep our desks a mess.
We are proud to claim the title
of "Teacher's number one pest."
That's us!
I don't know what kids do on the bus these days, probably text each other and listen to iPods. In any case, I think we had more fun.
