The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.Gomme, Alice Bertha
History
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.
Gomme, Alice Bertha
Folklore -- Great Britain; Games -- Great Britain
London Bridge is broken down,
Broken down, broken down,
London Bridge is broken down,
My fair lady.
[Then verses follow, sung in the same way and with the same refrain,
beginning with—]
Mend it up with penny loaves.
Penny loaves will wash away.
Mend it up with pins and needles.
Pins and needles they will break.
Mend it up with bricks and mortar,
Bricks and mortar, that will do.
[After these verses have been sung—]
What has this great prisoner done,
Prisoner done, prisoner done,
What has this great prisoner done?
My fair lady.
Stole a watch and lost the key,
Lost the key, lost the key,
Stole a watch and lost the key,
My fair lady.
Off to prison you must go,
You must go, you must go,
Off to prison you must go,
My fair lady.
—Hurstmonceux, Sussex (Miss Chase).
V. Over London Bridge we go,
Over London Bridge we go,
Over London Bridge we go,
Gay ladies, gay!
London Bridge is broken down,
London Bridge is broken down,
London Bridge is broken down,
Gay ladies, gay!
Build it up with lime and sand,
Build it up with lime and sand,
Build it up with lime and sand,
Gay ladies, gay!
[Then follow verses sung in the same manner and with the same refrain,
beginning with—]
Lime and sand will wash away.
Build it up with penny loaves.
Penny loaves’ll get stole away.
O, what has my poor prisoner done?
Robbed a house and killed a man.
What will you have to set her free?
Fourteen pounds and a wedding gown.
Stamp your foot and let her go!
—Clun (Burne’s _Shropshire Folk-lore_, pp. 518-19).
VI. London Bridge is broken down,
Broken down, broken down,
London Bridge is broken down,
My fair lady.
Build it up with iron bars,
Iron bars, iron bars,
Build it up with iron bars,
My fair lady.
[Then follow verses with the same refrain, beginning with—]
Build it up with pins and needles.
Pins and needles rust and bend.
Build it up with penny loaves.
Penny loaves will tumble down.
Here’s a prisoner I have got.
What’s the prisoner done to you?
Stole my watch and broke my chain.
What will you take to let him out?
Ten hundred pounds will let him out.
Ten hundred pounds we have not got.
Then off to prison he must go.
—Kent (Miss Dora Kimball).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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