# History of the John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt song

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-john-jacob-jingleheimer-schmidt-song/380331>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 14, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-john-jacob-jingleheimer-schmidt-song/380331 "2006-11-14T01:26:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-john-jacob-jingleheimer-schmidt-song/380331/1 "2006-11-14T01:26:02Z")

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Seeing  
[this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=395856) thread, I am reminded to ask, where did that song come from anyway? I’ve heard it said that it goes back to a century ago, during one of the great waves of European immigration, and the name was supposed to represent a hodgepodge of Northern European immigrants–Scandinavians and Germans.

It just seems to be one of those ageless kid songs. I had forgotten about it until hearing Sean Penn sing it in _I Am Sam_. But what I’m really curious about is how the common way of singing it came to be. It sounds like you’re trying to imitate a loud brass section when you do the “DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH” part, as if there had once been an actual performance of the song that was seminal. Could that have happened? Was there some sort of children’s record from way back in the 1920s that originated this? Perhaps even a band or orchestra that specialized in playing to children?

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**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-john-jacob-jingleheimer-schmidt-song/380331/2 "2006-11-14T01:47:12Z")

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[This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jacob_Jingleheimer_Schmidt) just says it has “obscure origins.”

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**Author:** ![Blue\_Willow\_Plate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c2a13f/32.png) [@Blue\_Willow\_Plate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Willow_Plate)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-john-jacob-jingleheimer-schmidt-song/380331/3 "2006-11-14T04:24:32Z")

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Just a guess, but I’m betting alcohol was involved.

Or college students.

Or (and perhaps this is going out on a limb) both.

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-john-jacob-jingleheimer-schmidt-song/380331/4 "2006-11-14T17:43:57Z")

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[QUOTE=Crafter\_Man]  
[This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jacob_Jingleheimer_Schmidt) just says it has “obscure origins.”  
[/QUOTE]

Yep, I looked there before I opened the thread.