This Old Man: A Song History

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"This Old Man" is a counting song: with each verse the number goes up by one, and the old man plays "knick-knack" on something, usually a rhyming word, before the refrain returns. Its author is unknown, and it is number 3550 in the Roud Folk Song Index.[1][2] Among the sources consulted here, the earliest printing found is in English Folk-Songs for Schools, collected and arranged by Sabine Baring-Gould and Cecil Sharp for the London publisher Curwen; in the undated sixth edition consulted, it is No. 46 in a short section of songs for infants, spelled "nick nack."[3] The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library dates the book to 1906, though another source gives 1907; the sources consulted here do not show whether the song was already in the first edition.[4][5] Folklorists have since found it in the American Southeast and Newfoundland, and Pete Seeger recorded it.[1]

Eighteenth-century etching of five children gathered around a small dog dressed in a frilled skirt and standing on its hind legs

Anonymous French artist, Five Children with Dancing Dog, etching, 18th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown as a playful children's scene; it has no connection to the song.

Its biggest moment came through the cinema. For Twentieth Century-Fox's The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, which opened in December 1958 with Ingrid Bergman as Gladys Aylward, the composer Malcolm Arnold adapted the traditional nursery song for the score.[6] It was published that year as sheet music, "Nick, Nack, Paddy Whack," billed as a children's marching song, and early in 1959 two versions were climbing the Billboard Hot 100 together, Cyril Stapleton's orchestra peaking at 13 and Mitch Miller's sing-along chorus at 16.[7][8] In Britain it later turned up in the BBC's Singing Together booklet for autumn 1970.[2]

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Sources

  1. The Traditional Ballad Index: "This Old Man (I)".
  2. Folkinfo (Mainly Norfolk): "This Old Man".
  3. Internet Archive: "English Folk-Songs for Schools," collected and arranged by S. Baring-Gould and Cecil J. Sharp (Curwen).
  4. Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (EFDSS) Catalogue: "English Folk-Songs for Schools".
  5. Sabine Baring-Gould Songs (sbgsongs.org): "Biographical Note".
  6. AFI Catalog of Feature Films: "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)".
  7. University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, Popular Sheet Music Collection: "Nick, Nack, Paddy Whack".
  8. Billboard: "Billboard Hot 100," week of February 9, 1959.