"Polly Wolly Doodle" is a traditional American children's song. It was sung by Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels, who premiered at New York's Bowery Amphitheatre in February 1843,[1] and is often credited to Emmett (1815–1904).[2][3]
1991: The Singing Kettle (as "Mice on Ice" on their Christmas Cracker Show video; coincidentally two years later they recorded "Polly Wolly Doodle" with a different tune and set of lyrics for the Adventures in Kettleland video)
2002: VeggieTales on their album on CD, Bob and Larry's Backyard Party
2003: The Cheeky Girls (as "(Hooray, Hooray) It's A Cheeky Holiday")
The song is the theme of the 1938 Donald Duck short film Good Scouts, in which it is played over the opening credits and sung by Donald and his nephews on their march.
Clark Gable sings the song while wildcatting in the 1940 film Boomtown.
Woody Woodpecker sings the song while driving his car in the opening scene of the 1947 short film Well Oiled.
Character actor Frank Puglia sings the song continually (and eventually gets the whole Anderson family to sing along) in the first episode of season three of the TV show Father Knows Best. This episode originally aired 12 September 1956.
The song appears towards the end of Sam Peckinpah's 1969 The Wild Bunch, sung by Strother Martin's character, Coffer.
Julie Andrews sings the song in the opening faux-musical set piece of S.O.B (1981) and the tune is heard several times throughout the film.
Robert Culp sings "Polly Wolly Doodle" in The Greatest American Hero - Season 3, Episode 4 (1982) - The Resurrection of Carlini
The Kidsongs kids sing the song in the 1987 video "A Day at the Circus".
The Juke Box Puppet Band performs the piece in an episode of Shining Time Station
The song is played in a get-well card in the Monk season 4 episode "Monk Stays in Bed" (2005).
In the Even Stevens episode, “Little Mr. Sacktown”, Beans armpit farts to the tune of “Polly Wolly Doodle".
In the video game Red Dead Redemption 2, NPC's can occasionally be heard playing the song on a banjo.
Parodies
In his medley "Schticks of One and Half a Dozen of the Other" (1963), Allan Sherman sings a song using the "Polly Wolly Doodle" tune, with lyrics describing his attempts to lose weight ("Oh, I diet all day and I diet all night / It's enough to drive me bats..."[1]