Talk:London Bridge Is Falling Down

message: I read somewhere about a noble woman naked on a horse.... so many people crowded London Bridge to see her that it collapsed into the Thames. Where/when does that come from? 
Wildart84 (talk) 08:32, 26 December 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: I think you are mixing London Bridge up with Coventry's Lady Godiva. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 12:44, 11 August 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: My fair lady

message: London bridge?
In Scandinavia we have this song in many different variants, and it is played in the same way as described in this article. But it is never said that it is about "London bridge". It is rather the bridge to hell.
Exists in portugal to, its called the 'falua' (falua is a thype of boat). the song goes more a less like: 'what a beautifull falua that sails this way/ it comes from bethelem. i will ask the boatman to pass me trought/i have many little children and can not provide for them all' - sang by the 'mother' who leads the line. and the 'bridge' (the players who form the arch) reply: 'youl shall pass/ but one must stay. if it is not the first one it shall be the last'. the bridge gets the last in line and ask a question. according to the answer, he goes behind one of the bridge players. in the end, the last one to be caught by the bridge players that gattered the largest team is seated in a 'chair' formed by the arms of the 2 bridge players and there is a count to 10, while they rock the chair. is the 'chair' doesnt brake, the bridge with the largest team wins. the funny thing here is that according to the song, the two bridge players should represent the boatman (who keeps a child as toal) but they are called 'the bridge' - a ponte.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.210.65.185 (talk) 01:06, 25 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  The song in Scandinavian traditions 

message: Nonsense obviously, but where does this theory come from? In the Topping out ceremony, in the UK and USA, a tree is sometimes placed on the roof of tall buildings Columbia University. This is a guardian spirit, protecting the building. Also, there are over 1,000 instances of archeologists finding shoes hidden in the fireplace of buildings. This appears to date back to about 1540.
There is an example from the Czech Republic, from c 1360 Concealed Shoes. Going back to Vedic times (and possibly Rome and Greece), a dog, goat or sheep was put into the foundations of important large buildings Vedic Ceremonies. From there, it is a small imaginative leap to claim that virgins must be buried in bridges. See also [Mithriac ceremonies. There is no evidence for the virgin business, yet, on the first website in the "External links" section, the nonesense is repeated - Nursery Rhymes, claiming that children were buried. Oh dear. I would put all this into the article itself, but it's a bit cumbersome, and extremely remote from the supposed topic - London Bridge. A similar claim is made in the book "Folk Music" by Norm Cohen (2005) (Greenwood Press), on page 35, relating to the song "London Bridge is Falling Down". Maybe somebody had read that book and extrapolated the rest. Ogg 19:45, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dead Virgin in the Foundation 

message: I grew up in the southeastern part of Iowa, in the US, and I also remember playing a London Bridge game when I was a small child- 3 or 4 years old -with the other children of my preschool/daycare class.
This is the way we played:
Two children would face each other and clasp their hands above their heads in the shape of an arch, while the other children would walk underneath during the first verse of the song. Once we got to the second verse, the arch would "capture" whoever was underneath at the time. The two children who had formed the arch would then swing their arms back and forth so that the captured child was somewhat tossed around.
That's as much as I can remember- I think after we finished the second verse the game was over, and we restarted.
--Holtkca (talk) 06:13, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  London Bridge in the Midwest 

message: "The earliest printed English version is in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (c. 1744)" according to the article.
But in fact it is in Namby Pamby, printed in 1725:
"London-Bridge is broken down: // Now he courts the gay Ladee // Dancing o'er the Lady-Lee." 91.85.165.30 (talk) 21:38, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: First printed earlier than 1744

message: Growing up in the Black Country during the 1960s, after "Iron and Steel" we had the verse:
Build it up with stone so strong,
Dance over My Lady Lea;
Hurrah! It will last for ages long,
With a gay Lady.
I understood that the stones literally "danced" over the River Lea as they were transported downstream in barges.
I don't have independent sources or citations, and indeed some might claim WP:NOR so will not suggest this for the main page.Martin of Sheffield (talk) 16:21, 27 June 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Pity, its an interesting alternative to the original and presumably branched off early for that one. I will check some sources just in case someone collected it.--SabreBD (talk) 22:02, 27 June 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: I've found a source for the verse and so have added it to the main text.  I still haven't found anything about the River/Lady Lee/Lea though. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 11:32, 31 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Good job. I am still keeping eyes open for the river/lady.--SabreBD (talk) 11:43, 31 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Found a citation for the last verse.  Time & Tune Autumn 1964.  Not Black Country at all but the BBC! Martin of Sheffield (talk) 15:25, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Extra verse and origin of "My Lady Lea" 

message: When I was little, we would sing:
London bridge is falling down
Falling down
Falling down
London brdge is falling down
My fair lady
Take the key an' lock 'er up
Lock 'er up
Lock 'er up
Take the key an' lock 'er up
My fair lady
In the first verse, two people would open clasp hands and let everyone under the bridge. When we get to the second verse, we'd put our arms down so the lady was trapped, and we'd swing her from side to side.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.203.227.69 (talk) 17:16, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Alternate lyrics 

message: A show which is rather popular among Japanese animations is Kuroshitsuji, also known as Black Butler. Episodes 11 - 12 contain a Japanese version of the song. In the English dub of it, it's something along the lines of:
"Build it up with wax and stone
Wax and stone, wax and stone
Build it up with wax and stone
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
Build it up with silver and gold
Silver and gold, silver and gold
Build it up with silver and gold
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
Silver and gold is stolen away
Stolen away, stolen away..."
Would be what drove me to look up this song in the first place, so I thought it'd be relevant to the topic...  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mihoshika (talk • contribs) 04:56, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: what 2600:6C5A:1C3F:D836:40B5:7610:95C3:C5D (talk) 20:23, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Popular Culture.... 

message: The section Age and damage theory  contains "
the original London Bridge (built in 1176 ...)".  The original was of course the Roman pontoon bridge, or Roman wooden bridge (depending upon your definition of bridge).  The 1176 bridge was far from original.  Would someone care to correct the paragraph please. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 13:07, 11 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Would "original stone bridge" cover this?--SabreBD (talk) 17:49, 11 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bridge history 

message: Please add a citation or remove "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" since this statement seems incorrect based on several sources, including primary sources. According to The Great Fire of London by Walter George Bell (1914) assessing the 1666 fire's damage, "About one-third the length of [London Bridge] was cleared of the buildings encoumbering [sic] it, but the damage went down. Arches and piers that had stood firm with centuries' use were left insecure when the stones had cooled. The Bridge House [the trust managing London Bridge] spent £1,500 in necessary repairs before the leaseholders could attempt to rebuild. The keyed wooden structure known as Nonsuch House, which was the wonder of the Bridge, the drawbridge, and the remaining houses towards Southwark were not touched by the fire." That sounds to me like the exact same part of the bridge that burnt in 1632 had been rebuilt and was burned again during the fire in 1666 and then rebuilt again. The painting "The Great Fire of London" (1675) shows parts of London Bridge not only rebuilt but on fire. Further, Samuel Pepys diary on 2nd Sept. 1666 states "there I did see the houses at that end of the bridge all on fire and an infinite great fire on this and the other side the end of the bridge; which, among other people, did trouble me for poor little Michell and our Sarah on the bridge." 2601:245:C100:5E5C:80C6:EF80:5FB3:94A3 (talk) 02:50, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: You certainly seem to have proved your point. Now please rewrite that subsection, quoting your sources. Sweetpool50 (talk) 10:28, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fire Damage in 1632