While today’s London Bridge may be a bit more sturdy than some of its predecessors, there is still reason to write about it. Write music that is. From children’s poems to chamber music, this bridge continues to influence the arts. Below you can listen to a piece written in 1926 by England’s own Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) titled, “Six Studies in English Folk Song.” The part most relevant to this discussion is the sixth movement is called, “As I walk over London Bridge,” and can be heard if you skip to 7:10.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNyl5UyDqqM

This piece exemplifies how the histories of macro-engineering projects go beyond legal and financial implications to culture.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.