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This article is about the nursery rhyme. For the hip hop song by 3rd Bass, see Pop Goes the Weasel (3rd Bass song).
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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007)

"Pop Goes the Weasel" is a jig, often sung as a nursery rhyme, that dates back to 17th century England, and was spread across the Empire by colonists. The song is also associated with jack-in-the-box toys (when the song gets to "pop" the "jack" pops up). The tune or melody is as follows, or a variation:

"Pop Goes The Weasel" melody

Contents

Lyrics

There are many different versions of the lyrics to the song. 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.

Or the alternative verses:

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.
Up and down the city road, (also seen as Up and down the King's Highway)
In and out the Eagle,
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop! goes the weasel.
For you may try to sew and sew,
But you'll never make anything regal,
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop! goes the weasel.
The monkey and the weasel fought,
The weasel's really feeble,
The monkey punched him in the face,
Pop! goes the weasel.
Every time when I come home
The monkey's on the table,
Cracking nuts and eating spice
Pop! goes the weasel.
Every time when I come home
The monkey's on the table,
Take a stick and knock it off
Pop! goes the weasel.

Contemporary verses in the United States consist of mainly these two:

All around the mulberry bush (or cobbler's bench)
The monkey chased the weasel;
The monkey thought 'twas all in fun, (or 'twas all in good sport)
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.

Origins and interpretation

The Eagle pub in City Road, with the rhyme on the wall
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Due to the obscure slang and cryptic reference "pop goes the weasel", there is considerable dispute over the rhyme's meaning.

While the rhyme certainly originated in England, the meaning of the terms in the first verse with which people are familiar in the U.S. is well established. In the late nineteenth century the technology for weaving on large rack looms was brought to the United States from England. Along with it came a traditional work song. The verse mentioning weasels and monkeys is quite specifically about the children employed to sit inside these huge industrial loom-machines and chase the loom shuttle around, unsticking it when it went awry and correcting any mis-weaves that resulted. Thus the children hopped around like monkeys chasing the shuttle which reminded workers of a weasel as it threaded its way in and out of the narrow passages between the rack levels. The pop sound is clearly the sharp whack - whack - whack as the large shuttle paddles at each side of the loom slapped the shuttle back and forth each time the racks reversed position.

The original theme seems to have been a darkly humorous vignette of the cycle of poverty among workers in the environs of London. The "weasel" may refer to a spinner's weasel, a mechanical yarn measuring device consisting of a spoked wheel with an internal ratcheting mechanism that clicks every two revolutions and makes a "pop" sound after the desired length of yarn is measured. "Pop goes the weasel", in this meaning, describes the repetitive sound of a machine governing the tedious work of textile workers toiling for subsistence wages. In the context of the rhyme then the first three lines of each verse describe various ways of spending one's meager wages, with "pop goes the weasel" indicating a return to unpleasant labour.

Alternatively (and, which is perhaps more likely for a poem from the East End of London), if "pop goes the weasel" is taken as Cockney rhyming slang, the "weasel" that goes "pop" is an item of value that the worker pawns, probably after spending the week's wages (always given on a Saturday). The "serious" Cockney uses "pop" to mean pawning or the redeeming of a pawned item, while the word "weasel" means "coat" (derived from "weasel and stoat"). Cockney slang also uses 'pop' to mean 'go away' ("Pop off!") or 'to hit' ("I'll pop you one!"). Another possibility is that "weasel" is a corruption of "whistle" and means "suit" (in this case being derived from "whistle and flute"). In either interpretation, the rhyme describes the pawning of the worker's only valuable items - the "Sunday best" clothing - after exhausting the week's wages on the food items such as rice and treacle, which, though cheap, were and are fundamentally useless to anyone if the buyer is poor and has nothing to eat them with. It is thought, however, that early "quack" doctors would have prescribed treacle as a sort of medicine, and gullible purchasing workers that were prone to illness due to exposure would doubtless have spent their savings on trying to maintain their and their children's health.

"The Eagle" in the poem is more readily identifiable as a Public house on the City Road in London. It stands on the site of the former Royal Eagle Tavern Music hall and pleasure grounds. Needless to say, it too is a means by which money is lost.

"Monkey" is believed to be a nineteenth century term for a public house drinking vessel. A "stick" is a shot of alcohol, while "knock it off" is to drink it. Therefore, this is a description of drinking in the pub. The later reference in the song to the monkey chasing people around the workplace might well describe longing for a drink while working, or perhaps while penniless right before payday. Alternatively, it could be simply to miss the point of the presence of other "animals" such as weasels and eagles within the rhyme, and that whoever added the "monkey" was simply trying to make it more nonsensical. Nevertheless, within the little-sung verse that goes:

Every time when I come home
The monkey's on the table,
Take a stick and knock it off
Pop goes the weasel

If taken literally, it too is a means by which one would doubtless lose money. However, if the monkey does indeed represent the alcohol, or the container for it, then its "eating" nuts and spice could be seen as its dominating the narrator's life and therefore taking the place of staple food. In either case, it demonstrates a somewhat expensive lifestyle, if the narrator is indeed to be recognised as poor working class.

Sometimes the third line of the most common verse is sung as That's the way the money goes round.

References in fiction

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The Railway Series

The Railway Series by the Revd W. Awdry is not known for its songs, but the books' author chose to use the well-known rhyme format for a version that was probably a hidden lesson about boasting.

In Duck and the Diesel Engine (vol 13 of the series), the visiting engine Diesel hauls a rake of condemned vans from a siding by mistake, and lurches forward ('pops') when a rusty coupling breaks. While Diesel clears up the mess he hears the trucks making fun of him with this song:1

The Three Stooges

In the Three Stooges short subject Punch Drunks, Curly Howard is a mild mannered simpleton who goes into a fighting frenzy when he hears the song. Moe becomes his manager whilst Larry plays the tune on his fiddle that make him a champion boxer. The tune was played in the title credits of their Pop Goes the Easel. The gag was reused in the feature film The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze with Curly-Joe DeRita becoming combative when he hears the song.

Anthony Newley

A version recorded by Anthony Newley achieved number 12 in the UK charts in 1961.

Andy Kaufman

Used "Pop Goes the Weasel" as a karaoke 'stage prop'. Walking on to the stage with a record player, Andy would place the needle on the record and while playing "Pop Goes the Weasel", would anxiously listen to the verses waiting for the chorus. He would then mouth the chorus and return to his restless anxiety and fidgeting, waiting for the next "Pop Goes the Weasel!". When the song was finished, Andy would gently take the needle off the record and carry the record player off stage. Not a single word was actually spoken during the entire skit. He did a similar skit using the theme from "Mighty Mouse"

The Prisoner

"Pop Goes the Weasel" is also prominently featured in the 1960s television series The Prisoner. An instrumental version is part of the soundtrack of several episodes (most notably the premiere episode "Arrival"), and in "Once Upon a Time" the lead character Number Six, whose mind has been reverted to childhood, begins singing the song, but is goaded by his nemesis, Number Two, who turns the word "Pop" into an acronym for "Protect Other People", leading the two to yell "Why POP?" at each other.

I Am Weasel

I Am Weasel was a Cartoon Network series inspired by Pop Goes the Weasel.{{{author}}}, {{{title}}}, [[{{{publisher}}}]], September 2008.

Godfather Part II

When Frankie Pentangeli tries to get the band to play the Tarantella, they played Pop Goes the Weasel instead.

Insomnia by Stephen King

The bad guys in this book sing a verse from this song frequently

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

The episode name for the skit Murder, She Wrote 2008 is "Pop Goes The Weasel... OF DEATH!".

References in music

References

  1. ^ Awdry, Rev. W. (1958). Duck and the Diesel Engine. Edmund Ward, p32. ISBN 0 7182 1050 6. 

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