“This Old Man” is an English language children’s song, counting exercise and nursery rhyme . The origins of this song are obscure. The earliest extant record is a version noted in Anne Gilchrist’s Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (1937), learned from her Welsh nurse in the 1870s under the title “Jack Jintle” with the lyrics:
My name is Jack Jintle, the eldest but one,
And I can play nick-nack upon my own thumb.
With my nick-nack and click-clack and sing a fine song,
And all the fine ladies come dancing along.
My name is Jack Jintle, the eldest but two,
And I can play nick-nack upon my own shoe.
With my nick-nack and click-clack and sing a fine song,
And all the fine ladies come dancing along.
My name is Jack Jintle, the eldest but three,
And I can play nick-nack upon my own knee.
With my nick-nack and click-clack and sing a fine song,
And all the fine ladies come dancing along.A more familiar version goes like this
This old man, he played one,
He played knick-knack on my thumb (or drum);
With a knick-knack paddywhack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
This old man, he played two,