Mr, T
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 2:18 pm
Post subject: London Bridge |
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There is a song call "London Bridge"
here is the lyrics,
London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.
Build it up with iron bars,
Iron bars, iron bars,
Build it up with iron bars,
My fair lady.
Iron bars will bend and break,
Bend and break, bend and break,
Iron bars will bend and break,
My fair lady.
Build it up with gold and silver,
Gold and silver, gold and silver,
Build it up with gold and silver,
My fair lady.
The song is about build a bridge up, why it is related to the lady ?
Is the lady a engineer or a bridge builder? Anyone got any idea ?
P.S. After I read this message again, I also feel it's abit weird, but
I am not crazy 
T
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Peter Duncanson
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 4:46 pm
Post subject: Re: London Bridge |
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On 9 Oct 2005 01:18:46 -0700, "Mr, T" <tungpoon@gmail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | There is a song call "London Bridge"
here is the lyrics,
London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.
Build it up with iron bars,
Iron bars, iron bars,
Build it up with iron bars,
My fair lady.
Iron bars will bend and break,
Bend and break, bend and break,
Iron bars will bend and break,
My fair lady.
Build it up with gold and silver,
Gold and silver, gold and silver,
Build it up with gold and silver,
My fair lady.
The song is about build a bridge up, why it is related to the lady ?
Is the lady a engineer or a bridge builder? Anyone got any idea ?
P.S. After I read this message again, I also feel it's abit weird, but
I am not crazy :P
This is a children's song: a Nursery Rhyme. |
It is included in the book _Popular Nursery Rhymes_, by Jennifer
Mulherin (Granada Publishing 1981).
The book attempts to explain the meanings and origins of the nursery
rhymes. The comments about this one are:
LONDON
BRIDGE HAS
FALLEN DOWN
The game played to this song
could date back to 14th century
Florence and certainly versions
of it have been widespread
throughout Europe for many
centuries. It has been suggested
that this rhyme refers to the
actual destruction of London
Bridge by King Olaf and his
Norsemen in the llth century.
Since early times various
superstitions have been
associated with both the erection
and collapse of bridges, the most
notable being that water spirits
object to bridges as an invasion
of their privacy. Consequently,
human sacrifices, especially
children, have been buried in a
bridge's foundations, supposedly
to serve as guardian spirits. A
bridge demolished in Bremen in
the last century revealed the
skeleton of one such child.
As for the "fair lady" I don't think she is a person who figures in the
story. At the most basic level "My fair Lady" is just a line that ends
each verse. If we really need to identify her, perhaps we should think
of her as someone to whom the song is being sung.
The version of the rhyme in the book has the bridge fallen rather than
falling:
London Bridge has fallen down,
Fallen down, fallen down.
...
The suggested methods for building it up are wood and clay (will wash
away), bricks and mortar (will not stay), iron and steel (will bend and
bow), silver and gold (will be stolen away), and finally as a
preventative measure:
Set a man to watch all night,
...
Suppose the man should fall asleep,
...
Give him a pipe to smoke all night,
Smoke all night,
Give him a pipe to smoke all night,
My fair Lady.
--
Peter Duncanson
UK (posting from a.e.u) |
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John Dean
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 5:30 pm
Post subject: Re: London Bridge |
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Mr, T wrote:
| Quote: | There is a song call "London Bridge"
here is the lyrics,
London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.
The song is about build a bridge up, why it is related to the lady ?
Is the lady a engineer or a bridge builder? Anyone got any idea ?
|
Long, complicated story. If you can get hold of the Oxford Dictionary of
Nursery Rhymes edited by the Opies they discuss it at length. Versions
of the song are known all over Europe. They suggest "Bro Bro Brille" in
Denmark, "Le Porte" or "Coda Romana" in Italy, "Die Magdeburger Bruck"
in Germany and so forth.
In early versions the lyrics are more like:
"London Bridge is broken down
Dance over my Lady Lee
London Bridge is broken down
With a gay Lady"
"Lee" is thought by some to be the river of that name which flows into
the Thames not far from London Bridge.
It's usually accompanied by a children's game. Though the origin may lie
in the practice of sacrificing children in the foundations of new
constructions.
--
John Dean
Oxford
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