"London Bridge Is Falling Down"
Roud #502 |
| Written by |
Traditional |
| Published |
c. 1744 |
| Written |
England |
| Language |
English |
| Form |
Nursery Rhyme |
"London Bridge Is Falling Down" is a well-known traditional nursery rhyme and singing game, which is found in different versions all over the world. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 502.
Lyrics
London Bridge (1616) by Claes Van Visscher
There is considerable variation in the lyrics of the rhyme. The most frequently used first verse is:
London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.[1]
In the version quoted by Iona and Peter Opie in 1951 the full lyrics were:
London Bridge is broken down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.
Build it up with wood and clay,
Wood and clay, wood and clay,
Build it up with wood and clay,
My fair lady.
Wood and clay will wash away,
Wash away, wash away,
Wood and clay will wash away,
My fair lady.
Build it up with bricks and mortar,
Bricks and mortar, bricks and mortar,
Build it up with bricks and mortar,
My fair lady.
Bricks and mortar will not stay,
Will not stay, will not stay,
Bricks and mortar will not stay,
My fair lady.
Build it up with iron and steel,
Iron and steel, iron and steel,
Build it up with iron and steel,
My fair lady.
Iron and steel will bend and bow,
Bend and bow, bend and bow,
Iron and steel will bend and bow,
My fair lady.
Build it up with silver and gold,
Silver and gold, silver and gold,
Build it up with silver and gold,
My fair lady.
Silver and gold will be stolen away,
Stolen away, stolen away,
Silver and gold will be stolen away,
My fair lady.
Set a man to watch all night,
Watch all night, watch all night,
Set a man to watch all night,
My fair lady.
Suppose the man should fall asleep,
Fall asleep, fall asleep,
Suppose the man should fall asleep?
My fair lady.
Give him a pipe to smoke all night,
Smoke all night, smoke all night,
Give him a pipe to smoke all night,
My fair lady.[1]
The earliest printed English version is in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (c. 1744) with the following text:
London Bridge
Is Broken down,
Dance over my Lady Lee.
London Bridge
Is Broken down
With a gay Lady.
How shall we build
It up again,
Dance over my Lady Lee, &c.
Build it up with
Gravel, and Stone,
Dance over my Lady Lee, &c.
Gravel, and Stone,
Will wash away,
Dance over my Lady Lee, &c.
Build it up with
Iron, and Steel,
Dance over my Lady Lee, &c.
Iron, and Steel,
Will bend, and Bow,
Dance over my Lady Lee, &c.
Build it up with
Silver, and Gold,
Dance over my Lady Lee, &c.
Silver, and Gold
Will be stolen away,
Dance over my Lady Lee, &c.
Then we'l set
A man to Watch,
Dance over my Lady Lee.
Then we'l set
A man to Watch,
With a gay Lady.[1]
The oldest extant version is probably that recalled by a correspondent to the Gentleman's Magazine in 1823, which he heard from a women who was a child in the reign of Charles II (r. 1660-1685).
London Bridge is broken down,
- Dance over the Lady Lea;
London Bridge is broken down,
- With a gay lady (la-dee).
The subsequent verses began with the lines, with lines in italics above repeated between them:
Then we must build it up again.
What shall we build it up withal?
Build it up with iron and steel,
Iron and steel will bend and break.
Build it up with wood and stone,
Wood and stone will fall away.
Then we must set a man to watch,
Suppose the man should fall asleep?
Then we must put a pipe in his mouth,
Suppose the pipe should fall and break?
Then we must set a dog to watch,
Suppose the dog should run away?
Then we must chain him to a post.[1]
Meaning and origin
The meaning of the rhyme is not certain. It may simply relate to the many difficulties experienced in bridging the River Thames, but a number of alternative theories have been put forward.
The Viking attack theory
One theory of origin is that the rhyme relates to supposed destruction of London Bridge by Olaf II of Norway in 1014 (or 1009).[2] The nineteenth century translation of the Norse saga the Heimskringla, published by Samuel Laing in 1844, included a verse by Óttarr svarti, that looks very similar to the nursery rhyme:
London Bridge is broken down. —
Gold is won, and bright renown.
- Shields resounding,
- War-horns sounding,
Hild is shouting in the din!
- Arrows singing,
- Mail-coats ringing —
Odin makes our Olaf win!
However, modern translations make it clear that Laing was using the nursery rhyme as a model for his very free translation, and the reference to London Bridge does not appear at the start of the verse and it is unlikely that this is an earlier version of the nursery rhyme.[3] Some historians doubt that the attack ever took place.[4]
Child sacrifice theory
The theory that the song refers to the burying, perhaps alive, of children in the foundations of the bridge was first advanced by Alice Bertha Gomme (later Lady Gomme) in The Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland (1894-8) and perpetuated by the usually sceptical Iona and Peter Opie.[3] This was based around the idea that 'primitive' cultures believed that a bridge would collapse unless the body of a human sacrifice were buried in its foundations. However, there is no archaeological evidence for any human remains in the foundations of London Bridge.[3]
The fair lady
Several attempts have been made to identify the 'fair lady', 'lady gay', or lady 'lee/lea' of the rhyme. They include:
- Matilda of Scotland (c. 1080–1118) Henry I's consort, who between 1110 and 1118 was responsible for the building of the series of bridges that carried the London-Colchester road across the River Lea and its side streams between Bow and Stratford.[3]
- A member of the Leigh family of Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, who have a family tradition that a human sacrifice lies under the building.[1]
Other versions
Similar rhymes can be found across Europe, pre-dating the records in England. These include 'Bro, Bro Brille' from Denmark, 'Die Magdeburger Brück' from Germany, 'pont chus' from sixteenth-century France; and 'Le porte', from fourteenth-century Italy. It is possible that the rhyme was acquired from one of these sources and then adapted to fit the most famous bridge in England.[1]
Girls playing "London Bridge" in 1898
The game
The rhyme is often used in a children's singing game, which exists in a wide variety of forms, with additional verses. The most common is that two players make an arch while the others pass through in single file. The arch is then lowered at the song's end to "catch" a player. In America it is common for two teams of those that have been caught to engage in a tug of war.[1]
Cultural references
In literature:
In theater:
In film:
- The title of the 1993 movie Falling Down was inspired by this song, which is also sung in the movie.
In popular music:
- A World War II era song by Walter Kaner entitled "Moshi, Moshi Ano-ne" and sung to the tune of London Bridge was so popular with Japanese children and GIs alike that Stars and Stripes, the Army paper, called it "the Japanese occupation theme song."
- The band Mindless Self Indulgence has a song entitled "London Bridge," though it has little to do with the original rhyme.
- On July 4, 2006, Fergie debuted the most modern-day version of "London Bridge" as the first single on her album The Dutchess.
- Nu-metal band Korn utilizes the popular refrain of the rhyme in their song "Shoots and Ladders" which talks about the supposed sinister meaning behind nursery rhymes.
- The English punk band Anti-Nowhere League uses a segment from the song in a cover version of Streets of London, a song about downtrodden Londoners.
- Boston-based band State Radio's song Riddle in London Town contains a passing reference to the song in the line, "It ain't the bridges that are falling down."
- The San Francisco/United States based band Switchblade Symphony uses passages from this children's rhyme in their song "Gutter Glitter" from the album "Serpentine Gallery".
- The song is part of the Nursery Rhymer Instrumental heard on a Raffi album Rise and Shine.
- Taiwanese girl group S.H.E sang a Chinese song based on the nursery rhyme for their 2007 album Play.
In TV programmes:
- In the 1966 prime-time TV special Lucy in London starring Lucille Ball, the Dave Clark Five turns up to sing London Bridge is Falling Down.
- The BBC series A Ghost Story for Christmas program referenced a virgin sacrificial burial meaning of the song, in the 1972 episode A Warning to the Curious.
- The TV series Dark Shadows (1966 - 1971) featured a little ghost girl, Sarah Collins, whose signature action was the singing of London Bridge.
- Throughout the 2008 anime Kuroshitsuji, a series set in a fictional Victorian England, the tune is often played, and the song is often sung using a Japanese translation of the lyrics.
- Stand-up comedian Jim Breuer sang the song while impressing Ozzy Osbourne during a show.
In football chants:
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 270-6.
- ^ Gibson, Michael (1972). The Vikings. London: Wayland. pp. 73. ISBN 0853401640.
- ^ a b c d e J. Clark, 'London bridge archaeology of a nursery rhyme', London Archaeologist 9 (2002), http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-457-1/dissemination/pdf/vol09/vol09_12/09_12_338_340.pdf, pp. 338-40; for the original Old Norse see http://is.wikisource.org/wiki/Heimskringla/%C3%93lafs_saga_helga/13
- ^ J. R. Hagland and B. Watson., 'Fact or folklore: the Viking attack on London Bridge', London Archaeologist, 10 (2002), http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-457-1/dissemination/pdf/vol10/vol10_12/10_12_328_333.pdf, pp. 328-33.
_by_Claes_Van_Visscher.jpg)
