Pop Goes the Weasel

Lyrics

There are many different versions of the lyrics to the song. In England, most share the basic verse:

Half a pound of tuppenny rice, Half a pound of treacle. That’s the way the money goes, Pop! goes the weasel.

Often a second verse is added:

Every night when I get home The monkey’s on the table, Take a stick and knock it off, Pop! goes the weasel.

And:

Up and down the city road In and out the Eagle. That’s the way the money goes, Pop! goes the weasel.

Origins

The tune appears to have begun as dance music, to which words were later added. A music sheet acquired by the British Library in 1853 describes a dance, "Pop! Goes the Weasel", as "An Old English Dance, as performed at Her Majesty's & The Nobilities Balls, with the Original Music". It had a tune very similar to that used today but only the words "Pop! Goes the Weasel". The dance became extremely popular, and featured on stage as well as in dance-halls. By September of the same year the title was being used as a scornful riposte and soon words were added to an already well-known tune. The song is mentioned in November, 1855 in a Church of England pamphlet where it is described as a universally popular song played in the streets on barrel organs, but with "senseless lyrics": the use of alternative, more wholesome words is suggested. The following verse had been written by 1856 when it was quoted in a performance at the Theatre Royal:

Up and down the City Road In and out the Eagle That’s the way the money goes Pop! goes the weasel.

Additional verses related to both traditions are:

My mother taught me how to sew, And how to thread the needle, Every time my finger slips, Pop! goes the weasel. You may try to sew and sew, And never make something regal, So roll it up and let it go, Pop! goes the weasel. I went a-hunting in the woods, It wasn’t very legal, The dog and I were caught with the goods, Pop! goes the weasel. I said I didn’t hunt or sport, The warden looked at my beagle, He said to tell it to the court, Pop! goes the weasel.

American versions

The song seems to have crossed the Atlantic in the 1850s where U.S. newspapers soon afterwards call it "the latest English dance", and the phrase "Pop! goes the weasel" soon took hold. The remaining words were still unstable in Britain, and as a result some of the U.S. lyrics are significantly different and may have an entirely different source, but use the same tune. The following lyric was printed in Boston in 1858:

All around the cobbler’s house, The monkey chased the people. And after them in double haste, Pop! goes the weasel.

In 1901 in New York the opening lines were:

All around the chicken coop, The possum chased the weasel.

The most common recent version was not recorded until 1914. In addition to the three verses above, American versions often include some of the following:

All around the mulberry bush, The monkey chased the weasel. The monkey stopped to pull up his sock, (or The monkey stopped to scratch his nose) Pop! goes the weasel. Half a pound of tuppenny rice, Half a pound of treacle. Mix it up and make it nice, Pop! goes the weasel.

Contemporary verses in the United States include these:

All around the mulberry bush, (or cobbler’s bench) (or carpenter’s bench) The monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought ’twas all in good fun, (or ’twas all in good sport) (or that it was a joke) (or it was a big joke) (or twas all in fun) Pop! goes the weasel. A penny for a spool of thread, A penny for a needle— That's the way the money goes, Pop! goes the weasel. Jimmy’s got the whooping cough And Timmy’s got the measles. That’s the way the story goes, Pop! goes the weasel. I've no time to wait and sigh No patience to wait 'til by and by Kiss me quick, I'm off, goodbye! Pop! Goes the weasel

There are numerous American versions as printed in Vance Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, Volume III, pp. 368–369. Randolph's #556, the A text. Collected 1926 from Mrs. Marie Wilbur of Pineville, Missouri.

Meaning and interpretations

Perhaps because of the obscure nature of the various lyrics there have been many suggestions for what they mean, particularly the phrase "Pop! goes the weasel", including: that it is a tailor's flat iron, a dead weasel, a hatter's tool, a spinner's weasel used for measuring in spinning, a piece of silver plate, or that 'weasel and stoat' is Cockney rhyming slang for "throat", as in "Get that down yer Weasel" meaning to eat or drink something. An alternative meaning involves pawning one's coat in order to buy food and drink, as "weasel" is rhyming slang for "coat" and "pop" is a slang word for "pawn".

A spinner's weasel consists of a wheel which is revolved by the spinner in order to measure off thread or yarn after it has been produced on the spinning wheel. The weasel is usually built so that the circumference is six feet, so that 40 revolutions produces 80 yards of yarn, which is a skein. It has wooden gears inside and a cam, designed to cause a popping sound after the 40th revolution, telling the spinner that she has completed the skein.

Other than correspondences, none of these theories has any additional evidence to support it, and some can be discounted because of the known history of the song. Iona and Peter Opie observed that, even at the height of the dance craze in the 1850s, no-one seemed to know what the phrase meant.

The "Eagle" in the song's third verse probably refers to The Eagle freehold pub at the corner of Shepherdess Walk and City Road mentioned in the same verse. The Eagle was an old pub in City Road, London, which was rebuilt as a music hall in 1825, demolished in 1901, and then rebuilt as a public house. This public house bears a plaque with this interpretation of the nursery rhyme and the pub's history.

As a singing game

In Britain the rhyme has been played as a children's game since at least the late 19th century. The first verse quoted above is sung, while several rings are formed and they dance around. One player more than the number of rings are designated as "weasels", all but one standing in the rings. When the "Pop! goes the weasel" line is reached they have to rush to a new ring before anyone else can. The one that fails is eliminated and the number of circles is reduced by one until there is only one weasel left. This is basically the American game of musical chairs: music is played as a number of children (x) circle around a row of chairs, which is x-1; when the music stops, the children vie for the available chairs, and the person left standing is "out."

Pop recording

A pop version of the song was recorded in 1938 by The Merry Macs on Decca Records (Decca 64413-A) and again in 1961 by British singer Anthony Newley, also on the Decca label (Decca F11362), and reached number 12 in the UK singles chart. The tune is prominently used in numerous Three Stooges episodes.