Kid Song Lyrics

I was going over some kid songs and came across these familiar lyrics:

"Sing polly wolly doodle all the day"

Upon doing some research the song first appeared in the 1880's.  While there is wide speculation about what it means, and no certainty on who authored it, many believe that the author was Daniel Decatur "Dan" Emmett, who was the founder of the first troupe of the blackface minstrel performers.  The song seems to be definitely southern and written from the viewpoint of a slave.  But exactly what it means is still a big polly doodle.

And then there is "With a Knick Knack Paddy Wack" from the This Old Man song.  Well this one popped up in the states in the 1870's (or before?) derived from an old Welsh tune.  A 'paddywack' is a strong elastic ligament in the midline of the neck of sheep or cattle which relieves the animal of the weight of its head.  The reference of 'playing' it appears to be talking about 'playing the bones', an old folk custom of making an instrument out of a pair of bones, or similar rigid materials.  The 'old man' in the song is adept at playing the bones in several positions including on his knee and shoe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bones_%28instrument%29