Nobody knows the trouble I see
Nobody knows the trouble I see. African American spiritual*.
This is found in the a post-Civil War book, immediately following Emancipation, entitled Slave Songs of the United States (1867), edited by the abolitionists William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison. It began ‘Nobody knows de trouble I’ve had’. It was described as ‘a favourite in the colored schools of Charleston in 1865’ (p. 55). A variant to ‘I’ve had’ is noted as ‘I see’, which has become better known. The Chorus was as follows:
Nobody knows de trouble I’ve had,Nobody knows but Jesus,Nobody knows de trouble I’ve had,Glory hallelu!
The stanzas were:
One morning I was a-walking down, O yes, Lord!I saw...
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Cite this article
MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "Nobody knows the trouble I see."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 16 Feb. 2025.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/n/nobody-knows-the-trouble-i-see>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Nobody knows the trouble I see."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed February 16, 2025,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/n/nobody-knows-the-trouble-i-see.