This Old Man
This old man, he played one;
He played knick-knack on my thumb.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
This old man, he played two;
He played knick-knack on my shoe.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
This old man, he played three;
He played knick-knack on my knee.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
This old man, he played four;
He played knick-knack on my door.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
This old man, he played five;
He played knick-knack on my hive.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
This old man, he played six;
He played knick-knack on my sticks.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
This old man, he played seven;
He played knick-knack up in heaven.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
This old man, he played eight;
He played knick-knack on my gate.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
This old man, he played nine;
He played knick-knack on my spine.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.
This old man, he played ten;
He played knick-knack once again.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.
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Origin
“This Old Man” bears a resemblance to an English rhyme from the 1870s called “Jack Jintle,” but the version we know today was first published inEnglish Folk Songs for Schools in 1906. The rhyme’s author is unknown. There is speculation as to the meaning of “paddy whack,” with some suggestion that the term might have originally been racially derogatory. In 1948, the American folk singer, Pete Seeger, published the song in American Folk Songs for Children and recorded it in 1953.
