Traditional · Key of C · Public domain
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This chart is written in C. Tap any key above the chart to see the whole song in that key, with every chord already worked out. To stay in C with different chord shapes, play it capo 3 with the A shapes, or capo 5 with the G shapes. Singing with a group? Pick the key where the highest note is comfortable for everyone, then print that page.
This Old Man is an English counting song whose origins nobody has traced. The folk song scholar Anne Gilchrist remembered a version called Jack Jintle from her Welsh nurse in the 1870s, and the song was first printed in 1906 in English Folk-Songs for Schools, collected by Sabine Baring-Gould and Cecil Sharp, with ten verses that rhymed the numbers with a drum, a shoe, a tree, a door, a hive, sticks, Devon, a gate, a line and a hen. Sharp heard children singing it in Norfolk in 1911, and an American magazine quoted it as a children's number song in 1918.
The rhymes have always wandered from place to place, which is why the verses sung today (thumb, knee, up in heaven, spine, once again) differ from the 1906 page. Pete Seeger recorded it in 1953, and a 1958 film arrangement made it a hit record on both sides of the Atlantic; that arrangement is copyrighted and is not what this chart uses. The traditional words and tune are public domain.
Three chords in a bouncy 4/4 march: C for the first line, F on "He played" and G7 on "on my", back to C for the knick-knack paddywhack line, then G7 on "This old man came" and C on "rolling home". Every verse is identical, so it is a counting exercise for the singers and a chord-change exercise for you: the F to G7 to C turnaround in the second line is one of the most useful moves on the guitar, and this song drills it ten times. Tap your foot and keep it marching; let the room shout "give a dog a bone".
This Old Man in other easy guitar keys: key of D, key of E, key of F, key of G, key of A. Every other key is at the top of the chart.
Tap any chord for its diagram, other voicings, and the notes inside it.
In the key of C, This Old Man uses 3 chords: C, F and G7. The chords sit over the words in the chart above, and tapping a chord name under Chords in This Song opens its diagram.
This chart is in the key of C. The other easy guitar keys for it are the key of D, key of E, key of F, key of G, key of A, each with the whole song rewritten. Pick the key whose chords you know, or the one that sits best for the singers: all twelve are one tap away at the top of the chart, with capo options for keeping the open shapes.
Yes. The words and the melody of This Old Man are in the public domain, which is why the full lyrics and chords are published here. You can print this sheet, hand it out, and perform or record the song anywhere without a license.
Another singing game: London Bridge Is Falling Down chords and lyrics
All the kids' song chord sheets, each one in every key.
Further reading: This Old Man (Wikipedia)
