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 that the rhyme was acquired from one of these sources and then adapted to fit the most famous bridge in England.
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, 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. 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:
Now he courts the gay Ladee
Dancing o'er The Lady-Lee.
The oldest extant version could be that recalled by a 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 subsequent verses followed this form, each repeating in the lines below in place of "London bridge is broken down":
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.
The earliest printed English version is in the oldest extant collection of nursery rhymes, Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, printed by John Newbery in London (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.
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.
Read more about this topic: London Bridge Is Falling Down
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