London Bridge Is Falling Down

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"London Bridge Is Falling Down"

Nursery rhyme

Published c. (circa) 1744

Songwriter(s) Unknown

"London Bridge Is Falling Down" (also known as "My Fair Lady" or "London Bridge") is
a traditional English nursery rhyme and singing game, which is found in different versions
all over the world. It deals with the depredations of London Bridge and attempts, realistic or
fanciful, to repair it. It may date back to bridge rhymes and games of the Late Middle Ages,
but the earliest records of the rhyme in English are from the seventeenth century. The lyrics
were first printed in close to their modern form in the mid-eighteenth century and became
popular, particularly in Britain and the United States in the nineteenth century.

The modern melody was first recorded in the late nineteenth century and the game
resembles arch games of the Middle Ages, but seems to have taken its modern form in the
late nineteenth century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 502. Several theories
have been advanced to explain the meaning of the rhyme and the identity of the "fair lady"
of the refrain. The rhyme is one of the best known in the world and has been referenced in
a variety of works of literature and popular culture.

Lyrics

London Bridge Is Falling Down

Tune for London Bridge Is Falling Down

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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]
London Bridge (1616) by Claes Van
In the version quoted by Iona and Peter Opie in 1951
Visscher
the first verse is:

London Bridge is broken down,

Broken down, broken down.
London Bridge is broken down,
My fair lady.[2]

The rhyme is constructed of quatrains in trochaic

tetrameter catalectic,[3] (each line made up of four
metrical feet of two syllables, with the stress falling on
the first syllable in a pair; the last foot in the line
missing the unstressed syllable), which is common in
nursery rhymes.[4] In its most common form it relies on
A prospect of Old London Bridge in
a double repetition, rather than a rhyming scheme, 1710.
which is a frequently employed device in children's
rhymes and stories.[5] The Roud Folk Song Index,
which catalogues folk songs and their variations by
number, classifies the song as 502.[6]

New London Bridge in the late

nineteenth century.

The reconstructed New London Bridge

in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

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 The modern concrete London Bridge.

Melody
A melody is recorded for "London Bridge"
in an edition of John Playford's The
Dancing Master published in 1718, but it
differs from the modern tune and no lyrics
were given. An issue of Blackwood's
Magazine in 1821 noted the rhyme as a
being sung to the tune of "Nancy Dawson", The melody now most associated with the rhyme.
now better known as "Nuts in May" and the
same tune was given in Richard
Thomson's Chronicles of London Bridge (1827).[2]

Another tune was recorded in Samuel Arnold's Juvenile Amusements in 1797. E. F.

Rimbault's Nursery Rhymes (1836) has the same first line, but then a different tune.[1] The
tune now associated with the rhyme was first recorded in 1879 in the US in A. H. Rosewig's
Illustrated National Songs and Games.[7]

The game
The rhyme is often used in a children's singing game,
which exists in a wide variety of forms, with additional
verses. Most versions are similar to the actions used
in the rhyme "Oranges and Lemons". The most
common is that two players hold hands and make an
arch with their arms while the others pass through in
single file. The "arch" is then lowered at the song's end
to "catch" a player. In the United States it is common Girls playing "London Bridge" in 1898.
for two teams of those that have been caught to
engage in a tug of war.[2] In England until the
nineteenth century the song may have been accompanied by a circle dance, but arch
games are known to have been common across late medieval Europe.[1]

Five of nine versions published by Alice Gomme in 1894 included references to a prisoner
who has stolen a watch and chain. This may be a late nineteenth century addition from
another game called "Hark the Robbers",[8] or "Watch and Chain". This rhyme is sung to
the same tune and may be an offshoot of "London Bridge" or the remnant of a distinct
game. In one version the first two verses have the lyrics:
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Who has stole my watch and chain,
Watch and chain, watch and chain;
Who has stole my watch and chain,
My fair lady?

Off to prison you must go,

You must go, you must go;
Off to prison you must go,
My fair lady.[1]

Origins
Similar rhymes can be found across
Europe, pre-dating the records in England.
These include "Knippelsbro Går Op og
Ned" from Denmark, "Die Magdeburger
Brück" from Germany, "pont chus" from
sixteenth-century France; and "Le porte",
from fourteenth-century Italy. It is possible Detail from Philippe Pigouchet's Heures a lusaige de
Paris (1497), showing an arch game similar to that
that the rhyme was acquired from one of
known to be associated with the rhyme from the late
these sources and then adapted to fit the nineteenth century.
most famous bridge in England.[2]

One of the earliest references to the rhyme in English is in the

comedy The London Chaunticleres, printed in 1657, but
probably written about 1636,[9] in which the dairy woman
Curds states that she had "danced the building of London-
Bridge" at the Whitsun Ales in her youth, although no words or
actions are mentioned. [1] Widespread familiarity with the
rhyme is suggested by its use by Henry Carey in his satire
Namby Pamby (1725), as:

Namby Pamby is no Clown,

London Bridge is broken down: The cover of the third edition

of Dumpling and Pudding,
Now he courts the gay Ladee which contains Henry Carey's
Dancing o'er The Lady-Lee.[1] satire "Namby Pamby"
(1725), one of the earliest
The oldest extant version could be that recalled by a surviving works to refer to the
rhyme.
correspondent to the Gentleman's Magazine in 1823, which
he claimed to have heard from a woman who was a child in
the reign of Charles II (r. 1660–85) and had the lyrics:

London Bridge is broken down,

Dance over the Lady Lea;
London Bridge is broken down,
With a gay lady (la-dee).

The earliest printed English version is in the oldest extant collection of nursery rhymes,
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Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, printed by John Newbery in London (c. 1744),
beginning with the following text:

London Bridge
Is Broken down,
Dance over my Lady Lee.
London Bridge
Is Broken down
With a gay Lady.[2]

A version from James Ritson's Gammer Gurton's Garland

(1784) is similar but replaces the last verse with:

Build it up with stone so strong,

Dance o'er my Lady lee,
Huzza! 'twill last for ages long,
With a gay lady.[2]
The first page of the rhyme
from an 1815 edition of
Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song
Book (c. 1744).

James Ritson, whose

Gammer Gurton's Garland
contains one of the earliest
versions of the rhyme
(Engraving by James Sayers,
published in 1803).

Meaning

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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.

Cnut the Great's men on the

London bridge, under attack
by Olaf II of Norway from a
Victorian children's book
published in 1894.

Viking attack theory

One theory of origin is that the rhyme relates to the supposed destruction of London Bridge
by Olaf II of Norway in 1014 (or 1009).[10] 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.[11]
Some historians have raised the possibility that the attack never took place. However, the
original document detailing the attack was written only about 100 years after what would be
a famous event in a highly populated area, leading the majority of historians to conclude
that the account is at least relatively accurate.[12][13] While it might or might not be the origin
of the rhyme, this would make King Olaf's victory the only historically recorded incidence of
London Bridge "falling down."

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 (1894–1898) and perpetuated by the
usually sceptical Iona and Peter Opie.[11] This was based around the idea that a bridge
would collapse unless the body of a human sacrifice were buried in its foundations and that
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the watchman is actually a human sacrifice, who will then watch over the bridge. However,
there is no archaeological evidence for any human remains in the foundations of London
Bridge.[11]

Age and damage theory

Until the mid-eighteenth century the Old London Bridge was the only crossing on the
Thames in London. It was damaged in a major fire in 1633, but in the fire of 1666 this
damage acted as a fire break and prevented the flames from further damaging the bridge
and crossing to the south side of the Thames. With its 19 narrow arches, it impeded river
traffic and flow. Central piers were removed to create a wider navigational span. Widening
and the removal of its houses was completed in 1763, but it remained relatively narrow and
needed continual and expensive repairs. In the early nineteenth century it was decided to
replace the bridge with a new construction. New London Bridge was opened in 1831 and
survived until it was replaced in 1972. It was then transported and reconstructed in Lake
Havasu City, Arizona.[14]

"Fair lady" identity

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.[11]
Eleanor of Provence (c. 1223–91), consort of Henry III
who had custody of the bridge revenues from 1269 to
about 1281.[11]
A member of the Leigh family of Stoneleigh Park, The seal of Matilda of
Scotland, one of the
Warwickshire, who have a family story that a human
candidates for the "fair lady"
sacrifice lies under the building.[2] of the refrain.
The River Lea, which is a tributary of the Thames.[2]

Legacy
Since the late nineteenth century the rhyme has been seen as one of the most popular and
well known in the English-speaking world.[1] It has also been referenced in both literature
and popular culture.

See also
Dong, Dong, Dongdaemun, a similar Korean nursery rhyme.

References

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 Wikisource has original text related to this article:
London Bridge Is Falling Down

Wikimedia Commons has media related to London Bridge Is Falling Down .

1. ^ a b c d e f g I. Opie and P. Opie, The Singing Game (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1985), ISBN 0192840193, pp. 61–72.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), ISBN 0198600887, pp. 270–6.
3. ^ A. L. Lazarus, A. MacLeish, and H. W. Smith, Modern English: a Glossary of
Literature and Language (London: Grosset & Dunlap, 1971), ISBN 0448021315, p.
194
4. ^ L. Turco, The Book of Forms: a Handbook of Poetics (Lebanon, NH: University
Press of New England, 3rd edn., 2000), ISBN 1-58465-022-2, pp. 28–30.
5. ^ R. B. Browne, Objects of Special Devotion: Fetishism in Popular Culture (Madison,
WI: Popular Press, 1982), ISBN 087972191X, p. 274.
6. ^ Searchable database, English Folk Song and Dance Society, retrieved 12 July
2012.
7. ^ J. J. Fuld, The Book of World-famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk (London:
Courier Dover, 2000), ISBN 0486414752, p. 337.
8. ^ S. Roud, The Lore of the Playground: One Hundred Years of Children's Games,
Rhymes & Traditions (New York City, NY: Random House, 2010), ISBN 1905211511,
pp. 270–1.
9. ^ W. Carew Hazlitt, A Manual for the Collector and Amateur of Old English Plays
(London: Ayer Publishing, 1966), ISBN 0833716298, p. 131.
10. ^ M. Gibson, The Vikings (London: Wayland, 1972), ISBN 0-85340-164-0, p. 72.
11. ^ a b c d e J. Clark, 'London bridge archaeology of a nursery rhyme', London
Archaeologist, 9 (2002), pp. 338–40; for the original Old Norse see Wikisource
12. ^ J. R. Hagland and B. Watson, 'Fact or folklore: the Viking attack on London Bridge',
London Archaeologist, 12 (2005), pp. 328–33.
13. ^ E. Monsen 'Heimskringla or the Lives of the Norse Kings', Dover Publications,
Inc[1] (ISBN 978-0-486-26366-3)
14. ^ D. J. Brown, Bridges: Three Thousand Years of Defying Nature (St. Paul, MN: MBI,
2001), ISBN 0760312346, pp. 52–55.
15. ^ C. Raine, T.S. Eliot (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), ISBN 0195309936, p.
87.
16. ^ W. E. Studwell, The National and Religious Song Reader: Patriotic, Traditional, and
Sacred Songs from Around the World (London: Routledge, 1996), ISBN 0789000997,
p. 63.
17. ^ ""Not Economically Viable"". YouTube. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
18. ^ G. Robson, No One Likes Us, We Don't Care: The Myth and Reality of Millwall
Fandom (Berg, 2000), ISBN 1859733727, p. 65.
19. ^ D. Russell, Looking North: Northern England And The National Imagination
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), ISBN 0719051789, p. 276.
20. ^ The repeated notes of ​London Bridge is Falling Down​ (where the Silver Shamrock
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song comes from) add to a already disturbing scene.

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