London Bridge is falling down

[Rystil Arden]

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"

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

London Bridge is, take the key.

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

 

[der_kluge]

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?

 

[Aitch Eye]

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.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

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.

 

[orchid blossom]

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!

 

[Jesus_marley]

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.

 

[IronWolf]

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

 

[Angel Tarragon]

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!

 

[AsEver]

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.