<P> 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 . Suppose the man should fall asleep, Fall asleep, fall asleep, Suppose the man should fall asleep? My fair lady . Give him a pipe to smoke all night, Smoke all night, smoke all night, Give him a pipe to smoke all night, My fair lady . </P> <P> The rhyme is constructed of quatrains in trochaic tetrameter catalectic, (each line made up of four metrical feet of two syllables, with the stress falling on the first syllable in a pair; the last foot in the line missing the unstressed syllable), which is common in nursery rhymes . In its most common form it relies on a double repetition, rather than a rhyming scheme, which is a frequently employed device in children's rhymes and stories . The Roud Folk Song Index, which catalogues folk songs and their variations by number, classifies the song as 502 . </P> <P> A melody is recorded for "London Bridge" in an edition of John Playford's The Dancing Master published in 1718, but it differs from the modern tune and no lyrics were given . An issue of Blackwood's Magazine in 1821 noted the rhyme as a being sung to the tune of "Nancy Dawson", now better known as "Nuts in May" and the same tune was given in Richard Thomson's Chronicles of London Bridge (1827). </P> <P> Another tune was recorded in Samuel Arnold's Juvenile Amusements in 1797 . E.F. Rimbault's Nursery Rhymes (1836) has the same first line, but then a different tune . The tune now associated with the rhyme was first recorded in 1879 in the US in A.H. Rosewig's Illustrated National Songs and Games . </P>

What's the meaning of london bridge is falling down