# London Bridge is falling down



## der_kluge (Apr 9, 2005)

My wife and I are having this odd discussion. It seems that her version of "London Bridges Falling Down" differs from mine.  Well, the refrain at least.

When she sang it, I was like "What the...!?"

Her version:

"London Bridges falling down, falling down, falling down.
London Bridges falling down, my fair lady.

Shake them up with salt and pepper, salt and pepper, salt and pepper.
Shake them up with salt and pepper, my fair lady."

This was apparently the version of the song she had learned in school.

It took me a while to recollect the version I learned, but I did, and shared this with her:

"London Bridges falling down, falling down, falling down.
London Bridges falling down, my fair lady.

Take the key and lock them, lock them up, lock them up
Take the key and lock them up, my fair lady."

She thought that my version was mean. I told her that her version was weird.

This was a month ago. She asked her friends. One grew up in Louisiana, and another grew up in Kansas City. My wife grew up in Missouri. They all had learned the "salt and pepper" version.  A version I was wholly unfamiliar with.

So, I google'd it.  The version that seems canon has nothing to do with locking people up, or salt and pepper, but building the bridge with iron bars, and silver and gold, though I did find one that mentioned locking up prisoners. After some searching I did find a version which had my refrain in it. Still nothing on salt and pepper.

Still, it seems odd that three people who grew up in different areas would all learn the same, seemingly bizarre version of this song.

What version did you learn as a child?


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## Mark (Apr 9, 2005)

"London Bridge *is*..."  isn't it?

http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/london.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_is_falling_down



> *Meaning*
> The meaning of the rhyme is obscure. Most obviously, it relates to the many difficulties experienced in bridging the River Thames: London's earlier bridges did indeed "wash away" before a bridge built of "stone so strong" was constructed. It has been suggested that the "fair lady" who is "locked up" is a reference to an old practice of burying a dead virgin in the foundations of the bridge to ensure its strength through magical means, although the better view is that this refers to Queen Eleanor. Intriguingly, the rhyme is not confined to England and variants exist in many other western and central European countries.


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## AIM-54 (Apr 9, 2005)

I learned the "take the key" version and have to admit I've never heard of the "salt and pepper" version.  I'm not totally sure where I picked it up as I lived in LA, TN and FL during my formative years.

Also, I believe Mark is correct, in that it is "London Bridge is..."


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## The_lurkeR (Apr 9, 2005)

Mark said:
			
		

> "London Bridge *is*..."  isn't it?
> 
> http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/london.asp





Right, and I've never heard of this "salt & pepper" verse either.


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## Mark (Apr 9, 2005)

I added a bit more above...


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## der_kluge (Apr 9, 2005)

Wow.  I've said "London Bridges" all this time.  Everything I know is wrong!


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## Mark (Apr 9, 2005)

die_kluge said:
			
		

> Wow.  I've said "London Bridges" all this time.  Everything I know is wrong!




You had the whole locking her up thing right.


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## jgbrowning (Apr 9, 2005)

One of my friends (an Athro Phd) did her undergrad thesis on the transmission of childhood knowledge as a form of oral learning. She said that there were many different versions of the kid songs depending upon locale and that some of them were similiar even when separated by great distances.

It was interesting to hear her talk about it. It really is a separate area of oral learning that functions almost entirely independent of adult influence. The older kids often teach the younger kids and it just keeps getting passed on and on.

joe b.


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## Crothian (Apr 9, 2005)

jgbrowning said:
			
		

> It was interesting to hear her talk about it. It really is a separate area of oral learning that functions almost entirely independent of adult influence. The older kids often teach the younger kids and it just keeps getting passed on and on.
> 
> joe b.




Do I smell a book coming??


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## Torm (Apr 9, 2005)

I went to school in SW Missouri, Rockford IL, Joliet IL, and Hartsville SC, where it came up (I went to quite a few other schools, too - moved 22 times in my first 15 years) and in all the schools I attended places it was "take the key."

I seem to remember seeing the complete lyrics to that song in a book at some point, though, and I'm thinking maybe these are different verses?


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## Barendd Nobeard (Apr 9, 2005)

We played it as a game, so I don't know where this crazy "salt & pepper" stuff comes from.  

The "take the key and lock her up" version made sense, since the game involved trapping people in the bridge.  (Sort of the opposite of 'musical chairs' but without the chairs).  I also remember other verses: "build it up with iron bars" and "iron bars will bend and break" and "build it up with silver and gold" - in my childhood, extra verses were just an excuse to keep playing the game a bit longer.


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## jgbrowning (Apr 9, 2005)

Crothian said:
			
		

> Do I smell a book coming??





Heh.  I have a stack of reading next to me. It's all about cities. So, nothing on the horizion about oral traditions, but lots of stuff about cities. I need more brains.

joe b.


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## Angel Tarragon (Apr 9, 2005)

I went to elementary school in four states: El Paso Texas, Albuquerque New Mexico, Poway (San Diego) California and in Scottsdale, AZ. In all four places the kids sung the lock her up version.


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## jgbrowning (Apr 9, 2005)

Frukathka said:
			
		

> I went to elementary school in four states: El Paso Texas, Albuquerque New Mexico, Poway (San Diego) California and in Scottsdale, AZ. In all four places the kids sung the lock her up version.




Which one do you sing?

Big green gobs of greasy grimey gopher guts,
1. Mutilated (2. munched up ) monkey 1. meat (2. feet),
1. Little dirty birdie feet, 2. Chopped up little piggie feet, 3. Chopped up baby parakeet


joe b.


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## Angel Tarragon (Apr 9, 2005)

Neither. If and when I sing, I prefer to sing Big Hair on Monster Ballad songs.


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## AIM-54 (Apr 9, 2005)

jgbrowning said:
			
		

> Which one do you sing?
> 
> Big green gobs of greasy grimey gopher guts,
> 1. Mutilated (2. munched up ) monkey 1. meat (2. feet),
> ...





Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts, mutilated monky meat, little dirty birdy feet.

But I learned that one in Canada.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Apr 9, 2005)

AIM-54 said:
			
		

> Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts, mutilated monky meat, little dirty birdy feet.
> 
> But I learned that one in Canada.




California here, but I like my gopher guts the same way.


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## Maerdwyn (Apr 9, 2005)

"Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts, mutilated monkey meat, squirrels, picked up off the street" (Central Massachusetts)


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## jgbrowning (Apr 9, 2005)

Maerdwyn said:
			
		

> "Great green gobs of greamy grimy gopher guts, mutilated monkey meat, squirrels, picked up off the street" (Central Massachusetts)




I hadn't heard that one before.

joe b.


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## Krieg (Apr 9, 2005)

London Bridge *is*...

Take the key and lock them up...

Mutilated monkey meat...

Little dirty birdies feet

Born & raised in Ohio.


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## Rystil Arden (Apr 9, 2005)

I heard London Bridge with "Take the Key and Lock Her Up" and also the the Iron-Bars->Bend and Break->Silver and Gold, all as different verses. Salt and pepper I've never heard, and it does seem bizarre compared to the other verses...
Oh yeah, and single bridge, with "bridge is"


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## Ao the Overkitty (Apr 10, 2005)

London Bridge is, take the key.

Born and raised in the capital district of New York State (aka upstate new york)


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## der_kluge (Apr 10, 2005)

This is indeed very curious. I wonder if the salt and pepper version was more for girls.  Any females want to chime in on this one?


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## Aitch Eye (Apr 10, 2005)

We just sang the chorus over and over and over and over when we played the game. I think I was only aware there were other lyrics from infrequently heard recordings.

And we always sang it as "bridges", though perhaps the adults heard it as "Bridge is" and so didn't correct us. I remember occasionally thinking it was odd, but the explanation somehow never stuck in my brain, though I must have seen it in print from time to time.

Born and raised in Nebraska.


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## Cthulhu's Librarian (Apr 10, 2005)

Grew up in New York state, in the Hudson Valley about 1.5 hours from NY City. I learned them as: 

London Bridge is...
Take the key...
Build it up with iron bars...

and

Great big globs of greasy grimey gopher guts, mutilated monkey meat, chopped by baby parakeets. 
Eyeballs rolling up and down the bloody street.
And I forgot my spoon.


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## orchid blossom (Apr 10, 2005)

Cthulhu's Librarian said:
			
		

> Great big globs of greasy grimey gopher guts, mutilated monkey meat, chopped by baby parakeets.
> Eyeballs rolling up and down the bloody street.
> And I forgot my spoon.




I grew up in Wisconsin.  I learned London Bridge with the "Take the key" verzion, and the kids in the day care where I worked sang it the same way, but we as teachers never taught it to them.

The gopher guts song I learned almost the same as Cthulhu's Librarian, except the third line...

French fried eyeballs dipped in a pula sauce
And I forgot my spoon-
But I got my straw!


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## Jesus_marley (Apr 10, 2005)

When I was a kid I had a friend whose parents were child psychologists. they had some rather "progressive" (read - LOONEY) ideas about raising their child. One of the few things they did consistantly though is work diligently to change the lyrics to child songs that they felt were too violent and then teach those revised lyrics to their child. It may be that the salt and pepper version of "London Bridge" is an example of that practice.

As an aside, I think I may have caused his mother to have a fit when I lent him my book of unedited, unabridged faery tales. Ahhhh.... good times.


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## IronWolf (Apr 10, 2005)

Ohio here and I have only heard the Take the key version....


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## Angel Tarragon (Apr 10, 2005)

die_kluge said:
			
		

> Wow.  I've said "London Bridges" all this time.  Everything I know is wrong!



And you still haven't changed the title of this thread yet!


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## AsEver (Apr 10, 2005)

die_kluge said:
			
		

> This is indeed very curious. I wonder if the salt and pepper version was more for girls.  Any females want to chime in on this one?




I learned the 'take the key' version. 

And my gopher came with Mutilated Monkey Meat and Petrified Birdy Feet.


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## ayrwind (Apr 10, 2005)

Singapore here.  I grew up singing as "london bridge is" and we just sang the chorus over and over again.  take the keys, salt and pepper are variants i have never heard of until these posts.


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## Maerdwyn (Apr 10, 2005)

Cthulhu's Librarian said:
			
		

> Great big globs of greasy grimey gopher guts, mutilated monkey meat, chopped by baby parakeets.
> Eyeballs rolling up and down the bloody street.
> And I forgot my spoon.




Huh - there's another (slight) difference.

After the last line (which for me was "squirrels picked up off the street"), we sang 
"That's what I had for lunch,
without a spoooon."


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## Simon Collins (Apr 10, 2005)

Barendd Nobeard said:
			
		

> I also remember other verses: "build it up with iron bars" and "iron bars will bend and break" and "build it up with silver and gold".



I have a great book - "The Origins of Rhymes and Songs" by Jean Harroween - which details several different verses, including mud and clay, iron and steel, silver and gold, and stone so strong (but no salt and pepper!).

There is also an (original?) variant from the Norse Sagas which begins "London Bridge is broken down" which tells of the Vikings ripping down (the then wooden) London Bridge in 1014. The bridge has fallen or been torn (or burned) down several times over the centuries (since the original Roman bridge) and been rebuilt with more modern materials. It also notes that in earlier times, human sacrifices were sometimes walled up within bridges to guarantee the water spirits looking on the bridge favourably (a child's skeleton was found in the remains of a bridge in Bremen, Germany, in the nineteenth century).

My memory was always "London Bridge is falling down" but the book refers all the time to "London Bridge is broken down". UK memory, there (50 miles north of the bridge itself!)


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## Eeralai (Apr 11, 2005)

Simon Collins said:
			
		

> My memory was always "London Bridge is falling down" but the book refers all the time to "London Bridge is broken down". UK memory, there (50 miles north of the bridge itself!)




I thought London Bridge was in Arizona, and so did they when they bought it 

Anyway, I taught elementary music for awhile and, although I grew up with the "take the key and lock her up" version, the book I culled songs from had a sort of hybrid of many of the versions talked about.  It did the iron bars and all that stuff, but when a person got caught in the bridge, they were aksed if they wanted salt or pepper.  If it was salt, they were shaken gently.  If it was pepper, it was faster.  Then they had to choose silver or gold.  Nobody was supposed to know which side of the bridge was silver or gold, but eventually some kid said their choice really loud and then everyone knew.  The side with the most kids won.  The silver and gold part also is in a similar game with a song called "Oranges and Lemons" which is imortalized in the book 1984 about "Here comes a chopper to chop off your head."


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## Elf Witch (Apr 11, 2005)

die_kluge said:
			
		

> This is indeed very curious. I wonder if the salt and pepper version was more for girls.  Any females want to chime in on this one?




I am female and I have two female roomates we have never heard the salt and pepper version we learned it as build it up with iron bars. As did our male roomate. I grew up In South Florida, one roommate grew up in St Pete, another in Erie and the last in Brooklyn.


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## Morrus (Apr 11, 2005)

It's definitely "London Bridge is", and I've never heard of a "salt and pepper" variant.


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## Thanee (Apr 11, 2005)

die_kluge said:
			
		

> Everything I know is wrong!




*"Everything You Know Is Wrong"*

I was driving on the freeway in the fast lane
With a rabid wolverine in my underwear
When suddenly a guy behind me in the back seat
Popped right up and cupped his hands across my eyes

I guessed, "Is it Uncle Frank or Cousin Louie?"
"Is it Bob or Joe or Walter?"
"Could it be Bill or Jim or Ed or Bernie or Steve?"
I probably would have kept on guessing
But about that time we crashed into the truck

And as I'm laying bleeding there on the asphalt
Finally I recognize the face of my hibachi dealer
Who takes off his prosthetic lips and tells me

Everything you know is wrong
Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you thought was just so
Important doesn't matter

Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong

I was walkin' to the kitchen for some Golden Grahams
When I accidentally stepped into an alternate dimension
And soon I was abducted by some aliens from space
Who kinda looked like Jamie Farr

They sucked out my internal organs
And they took some polaroids
And said I was a darn good sport
And as a way of saying thank you
They offered to transport me back to
Any point in history that I would care to go

And so I had them send me back to last Thursday night
So I could pay my phone bill on time
Just then the floating disembodied head of
Colonel Sanders started yelling

Everything you know is wrong
Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you thought was just so
Important doesn't matter

Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong

I was just about to mail a letter to my evil twin
When I got a nasty papercut
And, well, to make a long story short
It got infected and I died

So now I'm up in heaven with St. Peter
By the pearly gates
And it's obvious he doesn't like
The Nehru jacket that I'm wearing
He tells me that they've got a dress code

Well, he lets me into heaven anyway
But I get the room next to the noisy ice machine
For all eternity
And every day he runs by screaming

Everything you know is wrong
Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you used to think was so important
Doesn't really matter anymore
Because the simple fact remains that

Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong
Everything you know is wrong​
Never heard that other song... 

Bye
Thanee


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## Spud (Apr 11, 2005)

Cant say id heard of either salt and pepper or lock her up, the version we used to sing when we were nippers was, Build it up with wood and clay, which will wash away. Then other verses with different materials. Bricks and mortar, seem to remember something about gold, but my memory is not what it was.

Coz it was bugging me here is the version I learnt as a kid:

http://www.rhymes.org.uk/london-bridge-is-falling-down.htm


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## Queen_Dopplepopolis (Apr 11, 2005)

die_kluge said:
			
		

> This is indeed very curious. I wonder if the salt and pepper version was more for girls.  Any females want to chime in on this one?



 I grew up in a combination of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Texas...

Take the key and lock her up is the version we sang because of the game that went along with the song that has been talked about already (did that make sense?)  

*shrugs*  Too early for sense.


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## Nellisir (Apr 11, 2005)

jgbrowning said:
			
		

> One of my friends (an Athro Phd) did her undergrad thesis on the transmission of childhood knowledge as a form of oral learning. She said that there were many different versions of the kid songs depending upon locale and that some of them were similiar even when separated by great distances.
> 
> It was interesting to hear her talk about it. It really is a separate area of oral learning that functions almost entirely independent of adult influence. The older kids often teach the younger kids and it just keeps getting passed on and on.
> joe b.






			
				Crothian said:
			
		

> Do I smell a book coming??




Magical Medieval Society: The Children's Edition?

 
Nell.


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## Bagpuss (Apr 11, 2005)

Barendd Nobeard said:
			
		

> We played it as a game, so I don't know where this crazy "salt & pepper" stuff comes from.
> 
> The "take the key and lock her up" version made sense, since the game involved trapping people in the bridge.  (Sort of the opposite of 'musical chairs' but without the chairs).  I also remember other verses: "build it up with iron bars" and "iron bars will bend and break" and "build it up with silver and gold" - in my childhood, extra verses were just an excuse to keep playing the game a bit longer.




I remember the game aswell, two kids would form the bridge by holding hands and raising them like an arch with two spans. The other kids would walk underneath and lock her up the arms would come down either side and trap a kid. During the bend and break verse, you'ld sway them back and forth in your arms until they broke the bridge.


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## Nellisir (Apr 11, 2005)

Eeralai said:
			
		

> The silver and gold part also is in a similar game with a song called "Oranges and Lemons" which is imortalized in the book 1984 about "Here comes a chopper to chop off your head."




I don't actually recall learning to sing "London Bridge" at all, and all I know is the chorus. I have vague recollections of some kind of game, but nothing solid.

My mother had a decent collection of fairy tale/nursery rhyme books, most of which I have now, and I found both "London Bridge" and "The Bells of London Town" (in which the final line is "And here comes a chopper to chop off your head.") in "Marguerite de Angeli's Book of Nursery and Mother Goose Rhymes", copyright 1953, 1954. It's not what I learned to sing, though.


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, 
Wash away, wash away, 
Wood and clay will wash away, 
My fair lady.

Build it up with bricks and mortar, 
Bricks and mortar, bricks and mortar,
Build it up with bricks and mortar,
My fair lady.

Bricks and mortar will not stay, 
Will not stay, will not stay, 
Bricks and mortar will not stay,
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.

Iron and steel will bend and bow, 
Bend and bow, bend and bow, 
Iron and steel will bend and bow, 
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.

Silver and gold will be stolen away, 
Stolen away, stolen away, 
Silver and gold will be stolen away, 
My fair lady.

Set a man to watch all night, 
Watch all night, watch all night, 
Set a man to watch all night, 
My fair lady.


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## Bagpuss (Apr 11, 2005)

Now you've quoted it I remember hearing all those verses, except it was falling down not broken.


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## der_kluge (Apr 11, 2005)

Frukathka said:
			
		

> And you still haven't changed the title of this thread yet!




Just for you, buddy.


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## Desdichado (Apr 11, 2005)

Crothian said:
			
		

> Do I smell a book coming??



Nah, just a dissertation with a handful of copies mouldering away in various academic libraries and private collections.  

I've heard _many_ verses of the song, actually, mostly because as a child, I owned the Peter Spier book on London Bridge.  I don't remember one about salt and pepper, though, although I do remember the locking girls up, the silver and gold, the iron bars, and various other verses.


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## der_kluge (Apr 11, 2005)

Joshua Dyal said:
			
		

> ...although I do remember the locking girls up...




Are you sure that's not present day?  Let 'em out, JD!


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## Desdichado (Apr 11, 2005)

die_kluge said:
			
		

> Are you sure that's not present day?  Let 'em out, JD!



And then what do I do with all that storage space in the basement?  Answer me that one, Mr. Smarty-pants!


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## Raging Epistaxis (Apr 12, 2005)

Central Ilinois early 70's, IIRC we just sang the chorus of London Bridge.

I don't remember how the gopher song went - I never got much past the first line.  Now, "On top of Spaghetti..."  had several different configurations, some more gruesome than others.

But now that I have young'uns of my own, I've heard most of the other verses listed here for London Bridge except the salt and pepper.  Also, one of the CD's has a verse that goes:

Build it up with penny loaves, penny loaves, penny loaves
Build it up with penny loaves
My Fair Lady

Can't say I'd ever heard that one before that recording either.

R E


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## Thotas (Apr 12, 2005)

I grew up with "Girls {or Boys; the opposite sex of the singer, of course} are made of greasy grimy gopher guts, chopped up monkey meat, concentrated chicken feet, french fried eyeballs rolled in a pot of blood.  Now ain't that a dandy treat?"


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## rich1051414 (Jun 22, 2008)

*no way*

I grew up in tennesee with:

Big Green Gobs of greasy grimey gopher guts
Mutilated monkey feet
Chopped up parakeet
All these things are good for you and me to eat
But i forgot my spoon


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Jun 24, 2008)

Great big gobs of:
greasy grimy gopher guts,
mutiliated monkey meat,
toasted little birdy's feet.

Great big eyeballs
floating in a pool of blood,
And weeee, forgot our spoons.
(Brought our straws!)


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## OakwoodDM (Jun 25, 2008)

Eeralai said:
			
		

> I thought London Bridge was in Arizona, and so did they when they bought it




It is. The problem is that they thought they were buying Tower Bridge when they asked for London Bridge. More fool them!

I'm pretty sure I only knew the chorus of the song, although I do have vague recollections about the different materials verses...


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## Zander (Jun 25, 2008)

Nellisir said:
			
		

> London Bridge is broken down,
> Broken down, broken down,
> London Bridge is broken down,
> My fair lady...
> ...



I was brought up in London and remember it as "London Bridge is _falling_ down" etc followed by the part about iron and steel above.


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## Dog Moon (Jun 27, 2008)

Why was this brought back after 3 years?

Anyway, I don't remember which version I learned cause all I could ever was the London Bridge is falling down part.  It's not a song I've felt compelled to sing for YEARS and even if I do not, I couldn't sing anything more than the chorus...


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## Thunderfoot (Jun 28, 2008)

No salt and pepper. (that just seems more than bizarre...)

And as far as the gopher song..

Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts
mutilated monkey meat, chopped up little babies feet
French fried eyeballs swimmin' in a pool of blood
don't ya wish you had a spoon....

and another classic...

Comet, it makes your mouth turn green
Comet, it's tastes like gasoline (Listerine)
Comet, it makes you vomit
so get some Comet, and vomit today....


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## Michael Morris (Jun 28, 2008)

Check this out Thanee

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34KVEthrXZI[/ame]


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## TemplarSaint (Jun 29, 2008)

I'm from NOLA, and the version I learned had you "build it up with sticks and stones" and ended with somthing like "chip, chop, off with her head."


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## ssampier (Jun 30, 2008)

'London bridge is falling down' and that's all I remember.



jgbrowning said:


> Which one do you sing?
> 
> Big green gobs of greasy grimey gopher guts,
> 1. Mutilated (2. munched up ) monkey 1. meat (2. feet),
> ...




Mutilated monkey meat! Amazing what can trigger our memory.


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## Jdvn1 (Jul 1, 2008)

Mark said:


> "London Bridge *is*..."  isn't it?



Yeah. "Bridges" strikes me as weird.


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## Misty Wyrick (Jul 8, 2018)

Me and my daughter were just talking about this. That's what actually led me here. 
We couldn't remember the next verse so I googled it and when I played it we both
looked at each other like HUH!!! because the way we learned it was:  

"Shake them up with salt and pepper, salt and pepper, salt and pepper. "
" Shake them up with salt and pepper, my fair lady. "

Anyways, I just had to comment on this when I seen it because I thought it was 
weird I couldn't find our version of it. Maybe it's just a Kansas City / Missouri thing.. You know how we do..!! LOL
(yes tha'ts where we are from as well.. <3 )


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## Eltab (Jul 9, 2018)

Northeast Indiana here (this part of the Midwest got the New England / New York settlement wave, not the Southerners).

London Bridge is falling down.  It could be rebuilt with sticks and stones (which bend and break), bricks and mortar (not sure what happens to them), iron and steel (which rust away), silver and gold (no recollection of next verse).  
I've heard "take the key and lock them up" rarely.  
Never any salt and pepper in this song.

I've always thought the 'lock and key' was oral folklore about a corrupt incompetent construction manager.  That is just a guess, though.
_
edit: I always make important connections after I hit 'Post':
If everything above is accurate, 'lock them up' would follow 'build it up with silver and gold'; all that money spent but no bridge to show for it will tick off the nobles and merchants who spent the money._


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## Julie Jackson Foster (Oct 3, 2018)

I grew up in Kansas City and learned “Shake them up with pepper and salt”.  Never questioned until I had grandchildren and questioned the crazy lyrics.


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## Techgirl89 (Dec 31, 2020)

Grew up south of at Louis and have never heard the salt and pepper version. However we just bought a singing elephant and no lie he sings the salt and pepper version!!!!  How crazy is that!


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## Techgirl89 (Dec 31, 2020)

Techgirl89 said:


> Grew up south of at Louis and have never heard the salt and pepper version. However we just bought a singing elephant and no lie he sings the salt and pepper version!!!!  How crazy is that!



St Louis


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## ccs (Dec 31, 2020)

Nellisir said:


> I don't actually recall learning to sing "London Bridge" at all, and all I know is the chorus. I have vague recollections of some kind of game, but nothing solid.
> 
> My mother had a decent collection of fairy tale/nursery rhyme books, most of which I have now, and I found both "London Bridge" and "The Bells of London Town" (in which the final line is "And here comes a chopper to chop off your head.") in "Marguerite de Angeli's Book of Nursery and Mother Goose Rhymes", copyright 1953, 1954. It's not what I learned to sing, though.
> 
> ...




Substitute falling down for broken down & you have what I learned.  
Always assumed it was just British lore about building an ever better/more expensive Bridge.  That building this Bridge was so important that it had trickled down to child level....

I have heard the keys version & other nonsense lyrics (including salt).  I figured those were just to prolong the game.


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## Janx (Dec 31, 2020)

der_kluge said:


> Wow.  I've said "London Bridges" all this time.  Everything I know is wrong!



Knowledge is power. France is Bacon.


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## Janx (Dec 31, 2020)

Cthulhu's Librarian said:


> Grew up in New York state, in the Hudson Valley about 1.5 hours from NY City. I learned them as:
> 
> London Bridge is...
> Take the key...
> ...



stimulated monkey nuts,
chopped up baby birdy butts
Great green globs of greasy grimey gopher guts,
swimming in your blood


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## Umbran (Dec 31, 2020)

Janx said:


> Knowledge is power. France is Bacon.




José can you see, by the donzerly light...
Hold me closer Tony Danza..
They have slain the Earl of Moray, and Lady Mondegreen...


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## Morrus (Dec 31, 2020)

What an odd necro!


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## Tonguez (Dec 31, 2020)

Build it up with sticks and stones
Sticks and stones, sticks and stones
Build it up with sticks and stones
My Fair Lady

Sticks and stones will wash away,
Wash away, wash away,
Sticks and stones will wash away,
My fair Lady.

... then it goes through Bricks and Mortar (will not stay), Iron and Steel (which Bend and Bow), Gold and Silver (get stole away)

But you Americans are weird


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## Janx (Dec 31, 2020)

Morrus said:


> What an odd necro!



I hadn't realized it when I saw it, but then in checking, this is actually the 2nd necro!


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## Imaculata (Jan 2, 2021)

Am I alone in thinking when I saw the title of this thread, that another horrible disaster had just been added to the tail end of 2020? 

It really has been a horrible year.


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## Zardnaar (Jan 2, 2021)

Redirect Notice
		


 Another version here.


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## Ulfgeir (Jan 2, 2021)

Imaculata said:


> Am I alone in thinking when I saw the title of this thread, that another horrible disaster had just been added to the tail end of 2020?
> 
> It really has been a horrible year.



Well, it would have been par for the course, so it would not have been unexpected.


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## Thunderfoot (Nov 15, 2021)

I love the fact that this thread necroed right before I came back.  Seems....fitting somehow.


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## wicked cool (Nov 16, 2021)

i had no idea what Ring around the rosie was until i was in highschool. Scary stuff


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