Traditional · Key of C · Public domain
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This chart is written in C. Tap any key above the chart to see the whole song in that key, with every chord already worked out. To stay in C with different chord shapes, play it capo 3 with the A shapes, or capo 5 with the G shapes. Singing with a group? Pick the key where the highest note is comfortable for everyone, then print that page.
London Bridge is one of the oldest nursery rhymes in print. It appears in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London in 1744 and the earliest surviving collection of English nursery rhymes, as "London Bridge is broken down, Dance over my Lady Lee", with the bridge rebuilt in gravel and stone, iron and steel, silver and gold, and a man set to watch it. The rhyme was already familiar a century before that: a 1657 play mentions children dancing "the building of London Bridge".
The tune and the words sung today are American printings of the 1880s. A Philadelphia nursery songbook of 1879 printed the melody, and in 1883 the folklorist William Wells Newell printed "falling down, my fair lady" to it in Games and Songs of American Children, collected from Boston and Savannah. It is a singing game: two children make an arch with their arms, the line passes under it, and whoever is caught on "my fair lady" is out. The verses here are the traditional sequence, every one of them in print before 1900.
Two chords, C and G, and every verse the same: C for the first line, G on the first repeat and C on the second, C for the third line, then G on "My fair" and C on "lady". A brisk 2/4 with a down-up strum fits the game; if you are playing for the arch, keep a steady tempo and land the final C hard so the catch is clear. Twelve verses is the full traditional set; most singalongs stop after "set a man to watch all night". In C the melody runs only a sixth, so it suits small voices, and G or D are one tap away if you want brighter open chords.
London Bridge Is Falling Down in other easy guitar keys: key of D, key of E, key of F, key of G, key of A. Every other key is at the top of the chart.
Tap any chord for its diagram, other voicings, and the notes inside it.
In the key of C, London Bridge Is Falling Down uses 2 chords: C and G. The chords sit over the words in the chart above, and tapping a chord name under Chords in This Song opens its diagram.
This chart is in the key of C. The other easy guitar keys for it are the key of D, key of E, key of F, key of G, key of A, each with the whole song rewritten. Pick the key whose chords you know, or the one that sits best for the singers: all twelve are one tap away at the top of the chart, with capo options for keeping the open shapes.
Yes. The words and the melody of London Bridge Is Falling Down are in the public domain, which is why the full lyrics and chords are published here. You can print this sheet, hand it out, and perform or record the song anywhere without a license.
Another two-chord classic: Mary Had a Little Lamb chords and lyrics
All the kids' song chord sheets, each one in every key.
Further reading: London Bridge Is Falling Down (Wikipedia)
