Annotation:Nick-Nack Paddy Wack

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NICK-NACK, PADDY WACK. AKA - "Children's Marching Song (The)," "This Old Man (He Played One)." English, Morris Dance Tune (4/4). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA. The tune is used for either a polka or a single step in the North-West England morris dance tradition, though a fairly modern addition. Wikipedia [1] gives: "The earliest extant record is a version noted in Anne Gilchrist's Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (1937), learnt 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 pad-lock 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, etc. [JEFFSS, 3 (2) (1937), pp. 124–5.]

There are several ideas and interesting speculations about the meaning and origin of the words, but no particular conclusions, on the discussion at Mudcat [2].

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Wade (Mally's North West Morris Book), 1988; p. 15.

Recorded sources:

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