London Bridge Is Falling Down - Melody

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", now better known as "Nuts in May" and the same tune was given in Richard Thompson's Chronicles of London Bridge (1827). 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. 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.

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