Based on an 1888 song by American comedian and acrobatic dancer Joseph J. Sullivan. Legend has it that he was walking through the streets of Brooklyn wearing a funny hat, children teased him all the way to his front door. When he arrived home he wrote down what the kids had said, and it grew into this song, which soon became an English Music Hall standard. By the way, the word "Tile" is from the early 1800's and is slang for "hat." Tiles are sometimes used as shingles on a roof and a hat sits on the "roof" of your head.