こんにちは、RuiRuiです。
今月のたどくらぶで紹介するマザーグースのはなしです。
As everyone knows, Queen Elizabeth II passed away on 8 September at 96.
And the State Funeral was held in accordance with the detailed funeral plan which was created as early as 1960s and revised many times since.
The plan was called “Operation London Bridge”, and the code phrase used to convey the first news of her death was “London Bridge is down.”
So, this month’s mother goose is “London Bridge is broken down” (or more common title “London Bridge is falling down”).
This nursery rhyme is one of the best known children’s songs in English language.
Small children in Japan sing it (or its Japanese version) while playing the arch game.
Most of Japanese are familiar with only the first stanza, I think.
Very long actually, having 12 stanzas!
London Bridge is broken down,
Broken down, broken down,
London Bridge is broken down,
My fair lady.
Build it up with wood and clay,
Wood and clay, wood and clay,
Build it up with wood and clay,
My fair lady.
Wood and clay will wash away,
(repetition)
Build it up with bricks and mortar,
(repetition)
Bricks and mortar will not stay,
(repetition)
Build it up with iron and steel,
(repetition)
Iron and steel will bend and bow,
(repetition)
Build it up with silver and gold,
(repetition)
Silver and gold will be stolen away,
(repetition)
Set a man to watch all night,
(repetition)
Suppose the man should fall asleep,
(repetition)
Give him a pipe to smoke all night,
(repetition)
(London Bridge is falling down song)
The lyrics were first printed in the oldest collection of nursery rhymes “Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book” (1744) and became popular.
The words were different from the modern version.
They have changed over the years as in many other traditional rhymes.
(The original text in Tommy Thumb’s book)
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,
How shall we build it up again,
With a gay lady.
(continue to the 9th stanza)
As you might probably guess, it was a dance song.
People danced along to it until 1820s.
The original melody was quite different from today’s one as well.
Today’s melody and the children’s arch game appeared first in the USA in the 1880s.
London Bridge itself has a long history.
Built, broken, burnt and rebuilt again and again like in the rhyme.
(London Bridge: A journey through time)
The Medieval London Bridge (the first stone bridge)
1209 ~ 1831
Survived for 600 years!
Many houses and shops (about 130) built on the bridge.
The new London Bridge (the second stone bridge)
1831 ~ 1972
(An American estate developer bought this London Bridge!
The bridge was taken apart stone by stone, transferred to the USA, and then reconstructed in Arizona.)
The modern London Bridge (concrete)
1973 ~ present
(Disney’s film “The truth about mother goose (1957)”
Now there are more than 10 bridges over the Thames in London.
London Bridge had been the only one until Westminster Bridge was constructed in 1750, though.
So vital for the Londoners!
See you at たどくらぶ.
RuiRui
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