"The Eagle" - off City Road, London
This week I have been singing "Pop Goes The Weasel" to our darling baby granddaughter Margot. It is a song I have known all my life but when you pause for reflection, the lyrics seem rather odd - somewhat mysterious even. Here we go:-
Half a pound of tuppenny rice,
Half a pound of treacle.
That’s the way the money goes,
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 go out
The monkey’s on the table.
Take a stick and knock it off
Pop goes the weasel.
A penny for a ball of thread
Another for a needle,
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop goes the weasel.
All around the cobbler's bench
The monkey chased the people;
The donkey thought ’twas all in fun,
Pop goes the weasel.
The song has several American versions. It seems that there was a dance craze in the the 1850's that spanned The Atlantic and the only line it had was "Pop goes the weasel". The extended lyrics probably came later as the song evolved and embedded itself in the English-speaking world.
It is likely that the tune goes back much further in time and in truth the full, accurate history of "Pop Goes The Weasel" is almost impossible to tease out. There are so many theories that often contradict each other.
It is the same with many old nursery rhymes. The truth may be as elusive as butterflies or shooting stars. Time has a habit of clouding the waters making it hard to see.
Clearly, there are references in the version I have inserted above to spinning, to pawning and to London. "The Eagle" is still a pub on City Road. However, it is not clear what "the weasel" refers to and why does it go "pop"? Some think it is a device connected with the textile industry. I wouldn't like to say for sure.
What I do know is that singing old nursery rhymes to babies is a nice thing to do - entertaining them and helping to fuel their nascent language skills as well as beginning to mark their cultural identity.
Below an amateur rendition of "Pop Goes The Weasel". This is not, I repeat NOT Tasker Dunham!
My husband still sings a Dutch songs to Jack but I'm stuck with English:) I didn't know the whole song about, only know the tune and then POP GOES THE WEASEL!
ReplyDeleteI've always been familiar with the rem pop goes the weasel but had no knowledge of words.
ReplyDeleteI remember it being, 'Round and round the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel; the monkey thought it was all in fun, Pop! goes the weasel."
ReplyDeleteI only know the first verse. It must have been a bit tedious to keep singing the first verse over and over.
ReplyDeleteI always imagined it referred to 'popping' (pawning) things, but what the Weasel referred to I have no idea.
ReplyDeleteCockney rhyming slang: weazel and stoat= coat. It means to pawn your coat.
ReplyDeleteNow that is very interesting. I've never heard all those lyrics and I had no idea "Pop Goes the Weasel" had so many verses! The version I learned had a monkey chasing a weasel around a mulberry bush, and that's all I remember.
ReplyDeleteMy parents sang lullabies and nursery rhymes to us when we were little, and so did my maternal grandparents. They also told us stories, read to us from fairytale and other story books, and it all combined in our little minds and hearts to form a love of language(s), of reading and (later) writing, and a common ground with many other children of our generation and with a similar upbringing.
ReplyDeleteOur granddad made up his own stories for us, which we loved very much - they usually involved one or more of the stuffed toys we had at their house. One of them was a marmot, and that was my favourite.
I always understood from my Cockney mother that it was rhyming slang. To pop was to pawn, weasel was a coat (weasel and stoat), monkey was a fifty pound note etc....
ReplyDeleteI never understood Pop goes the Weasel either. Why does the weasel pop? And what does that have to do with the money?
ReplyDeleteMargot here's a song for you
ReplyDeleteAlthough my voice is feeble
Do not kid me it is nice
You naughty little weasel
Grandma tells me to shut up
DeleteBecause it makes her queasy
But you say to carry on
Mischievous and weasely
Curiosity made me google and I found the same explanation as Northsider: "pop the weasel" meant to pawn your coat. Which makes sense with the at least some of the lyrics you quote. (Not sure about the monkey!)
ReplyDeleteI remember Pop Goes the Weasel from my childhood but for the life of me, can't remember any of the lyrics though I must have read/been sung them at some point. I checked out the more "American" versions of the lyrics and they look every bit as foreign as the ones you posted above.
ReplyDeleteMy father said, grandchildren keep you young. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteDo you have this toy in England? https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=903395649817172
ReplyDeleteI only know Bob's version of the song. Didn't we used to join hands and go around in a circle while we sang it? I've forgotten now...
ReplyDeleteI actually once attended a U3A talk on Nursery rhymes and made notes as it was fascinating. I've just looked up my notes on Pop Goes the Weasel. Apparently it harks back to Victorian poverty in London with people drinking so much that they had little money for food or anything else. 'Stoat' meant coat and 'pop' meant pawn. So maybe they were having to pawn their coat to survive. 'Monkey' was a glazed mug. 'Take a stick and knock it off' referred to removing the foam in beer.
ReplyDeleteThat what my mother told me, it was about taking your best coat to the pawn shop on a Monday and pick it up on Friday
ReplyDelete