Guest Author - Elizabeth Bissette

If all the versions of "Pop Goes the Weasel" I found were put together it would be surprisingly long, yet very entertaining, at least my five year old and I thought so. Something like this:

'Round and 'round the cobbler's bench
The monkey chased the weasel,
The monkey thought 'twas all in fun
Pop! Goes the weasel.

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

Every night when I come home,
The Monkey's on the table.
I take a stick and knock him off
An pop goes the weasel!

Put some pepper on its nose
And you'll make it sneeze-l
Catch it fast before it snaps --
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!

Half a pound of tupenney rice,
Half a pound of treacle,
Mix it up amd make it nice,
Pop! Goes the weasel!

I've no time to wait and sigh
No patience to wait till by 'n by
So kiss me quick, I'm off, goodbye
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 to a lawyer today
For something very legal
He asked me how much I'm willing to pay
Pop goes the weasel.

I will bargain all my days
But never again so feeble
I paid for ev'ry legal phrase
Pop goes the weasel.

A painter would his lover paint
He stood before the easel
A monkey jumped all over the paint
Pop goes the weasel.

When his lover she did laugh
His temper got very lethal
He tore the painting up in half
Pop goes the weasel.

I went hunting up 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 me beagle
He said to tell it to the court
Pop goes the weasel.

My son and I went to the fair
And there were lots of people
We spent a lot of money, I swear
Pop goes the weasel.

I got sick from all the sun
My sonny boy got the measels
But still we had a lot of fun
Pop goes the weasel.

I went to a grocery store
I thought a little cheese'll
Be good to catch a mouse in the floor
Pop goes the weasel.

But the mouse was very bright
He wasn't a mouse to wheedle
He took the cheese and said "goodnight"
Pop goes the weasel.

If you want to buy a pig
Buy a pig with hairs on
Every hair a penny a pair
Pop -- goes the weasel!

This combines English, American and childrens' renditions of the song.

What does it mean? Well, several ideas have been presented. Pop, in England, meant pawn. Hatters, who used a tool called a weasel, would often pawn it to pay bar tabs. (The Eagle was an English pub, indeed one on City Road). When the song came to America, the word money became monkey, probably due to changes in inflection rather than meaning at first. Why cobbler replaced hatter? Cobblers' used weasels too.

Other verses refer to pawning as well. A penny for a loaf of bread, a penny for a needle, rice, treacle, would be found by pawning a winter coat (weasel and stoat in Cockney slang = coat). People would do this at the end of the week, when money was low, then get it back at the beginning, when pay day had come. Creating a cycle reflected in the songs' lyric arrangement. One source points out that suit, in Cockney is 'whistle and flute', speculating that weasel is a corruption of whistle. Either way, something was 'popped' and that was the way the money went.

So whats' the deal with the mulberry bush? Well, it could be a version sung by silk weavers, who cultivated mulberry bushes, (silkworms' favorite). Many came to England from France in the late 1700s. The weavers' shuttle could be the weasel of the song and is, again, something that would be pawned or popped. the weaver's shuttle which could be pawned ("popped") for money when times were tough. When spinning and winding yarn, (or silk) into skiens, a tool called a 'weasel' would make a popping sound after a certain number of turns, perhaps another or double meaning.

The song is said in some sources to have originated in a music hall as late as the 1890s, in others to have originated as early as the 17th century. Probably the truth is that different versions appeared at different times.