The shaving horse is used in combination with the drawknife or spokeshave to cut down green or seasoned wood, to accomplish jobs such as handling an ax; creating wooden rakes, hay forks, walking sticks, etc.

[2] The responsive lyrical structure of the verse and refrain are referenced in Moritz Reymond's 1877 book Das neue Laienbrevier des Haeckelismus, which uses German folk and student songs to burlesque ideas regarding organic evolution.

[3] Some of the lyrical ideas and phrases are also included (albeit in a different form) in Volume 9 of Karl Simrock's 13-volume 1856 collection of German stories and poems titled Die deutschen Volksbücher.

The Big Bad Wolf sings a version of the song to his offspring in the 1936 Walt Disney Silly Symphony cartoon Three Little Wolves.

William Frawley performs an English version of this song in the 1942 World War II propaganda musical The Yankee Doodler.

American POWs sing it during a volleyball game to distract guards from spotting a contraband radio antenna hidden in the net.

In 1994, Steven Spielberg's cartoon show Animaniacs featured a segment using a version of the song, with heavily modified lyrics.