Etymology of "Nick Nack Paddywhack"/"This Old Man"?

Question

Does anyone know the etymology of this children's rhyme? There seems to be some suggestion of it being offesnsive to the Irish in some way, and I have found some refernces to it dating back to Cromwell, however my research has got no further than this. Any sensible answers would be much appreciated...

Answer 1

It comes from the banking industry in Ireland.

A junior accounts manager named Paddywhack was approached by a Frenchman wanting a loan, and having only a small statuette as collateral. When he called his senior manager over for assistance, the senior manager told him,

"It's a knick-knack, Paddywhack, give the frog a loan."

your welcome :)

Answer 2

This is a phrase from an old song,
Nick - Nack Padywhack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home

Nick- nack Is the name of a primative musical instrument formed by using two flat bones to make a cracking/clacking sound.
Paddywhack is a part of meat neither meat nor bone and having no taste, being inedible due to the fact it won't chew, a portion of paddywhack would not make a pair of nick nacks,
Give a dog a bone refers to the fact if you only had paddywhack you may as well give it to a dog as only a hound would get some pleasure from chewing it for hours.
Old man rolling home - self explanatary, he has spent to much time in the local hostelry and cannot satisfactorily play with his Nick - Nacks. Now ask me one on sport..........

Answer 3

The answer may or may not have anything to do with Cromwell.

Listen to the words. The song is about learning the rhythm of drum beats.

knick-knack: two quarter notes in half of a 4/4 measure

paddy-whack: two eighth notes, followed by a quarter note, in half of a 4/4 measure

give a dog a bone: four eighth notes, followed by a half note, in a whole measure.

Then the last line talks about learning to do a drum roll: this old man came rolling home.

There may be a deeper meaning, but the surface meaning is teaching basic rhythms in drumming.

Answer 4

There is a website at www.songfacts.com but at the moment, it is refusing to display. (A lot of things are slow this morning.)
Oliver Cromwell certainly bullied the Irish Roman Catholics into submission after the English Civil War in 1659 (?) and there was a saying of "The curse of Cromwell on you."
I am now curious to find out the answer now, too. lol.

P.S. Knick knack originally meant "petty trick, artifice."