Scotland's Burning

"Scotland's Burning" (Also known as in England "London's Burning"), are variants of a song and nursery rhyme popular with children.

"London's Burning (round)" redirects here. For The Clash's, see London's Burning (The Clash song).
A drinking fountain next to the Monument to the Great Fire of London, showing the song's words

Words

The song can be sung as a round when each part starts two bars after the previous one. It may be an example of a nursery rhyme with tragic or violent themes. The London lyrics are said to be about Great Fire of London, a five-day fire in the city of London in 1666 although they contain an anachronistic reference to fire engines ("fetch the engines").[1] The first notation of a round in this theme dates from 1580.[2] The Scotland lyrics are said to be about the Burning of Edinburgh in 1544, ordered by Henry VIII of England.[3]

The lyrics are mentioned in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, Act 4, scene 1, when Grumio asks Curtis to prepare a warm fire for guests.[4]

In the Netherlands the song is known as "Brand in Mokum" ("Fire in Amsterdam")[5], which is said to refer to the Amsterdam revolt against Napoleon in 1813.[3]

Musical scores

References
  1. Margaret Read MacDonald & Winifred Jaeger (2006). The Round Book: Rounds Kids Love to Sing, p.73. August House. ISBN 9780874837865.
  2. Lindahl, Greg. "Scotland, It Burneth", Ravenscroft Songbook. Cites Vlasto, Jill. "An Elizabethan Anthology of Rounds", Musical Quarterly XL (1954) 222–234. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  3. Bert van Zantwijk, Brand in Mokum (2016)
  4. (1902). "Music of Shakspere's Time", Lippincott's Monthly Magazine: A Popular Journal of General Literature, Volume 69, p.243-4. J.B. Lippincott. pre-ISBN.
  5. Dutch Wikipedia, Brand in Mokum
  6. Mason, Lowell (1837). Parley's Magazine, Volume 5, p.191.
  7. Kaye Pottie, Vernon Ellis, Kathy Kaulbach (1992). Folksongs of the Maritimes: From the Collections of Helen Creighton and Other Distinguished Maritime Folklorists, p.12. Formac. ISBN 9780887802003.
  8. Newman Ivey White, Jan Philip Schinhan; eds. (1977). The Frank C. Brown Collection of NC Folklore: Vol. V: The Music of the Folk Songs, p.115. Duke University. ISBN 9780822382850.


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