Pop Goes the Weasel

First recorded: 1850

Origin: England

Lyrics

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 threadAnother for a needle,That’s the way the money goes,Pop! Goes the weasel.

All around the cobbler's benchthe monkey chased the people;The donkey thought ’twas all in fun,Pop! Goes the weasel.

"Pop Goes the Weasel" was a music-hall craze in the 1850s, but nobody has established what its famous phrase originally meant. "Pop" was period slang for pawning something. The familiar claim that a "weasel" meant a coat appeared much later, so the complete coat-pawning explanation cannot be the song's original meaning.

What is the meaning of the phrase "Pop goes the weasel"?

There is no settled answer. "Pop" was genuine slang for pawning an item, but "weasel and stoat" meaning "coat" is not recorded until the 1930s, about eighty years after the song became popular. That makes the familiar story about pawning a coat a later explanation rather than the phrase's origin.

Other suggestions include a tailor's iron, a hatter's tool, a weasel-skin purse and a spinner's measuring reel that made a popping sound. Contemporary listeners do not appear to have agreed on an explanation, and the phrase may have been playful nonsense from the start.

What does "the Eagle" refer to in the song?

The line is generally associated with the Eagle Tavern, a prominent public house and music hall on City Road in London. It was a popular place for drinking and entertainment in the mid-nineteenth century. The verse links the Eagle with spending money, but it does not prove the later claim that the "weasel" was a coat being pawned.

What does the "monkey" represent in the lyrics?

In some versions of the lyrics, a monkey is described as being on the table. In nineteenth-century London slang, a "monkey" referred to the sum of 500 pounds. Since 500 pounds was an astronomical amount of money at the time, some historians suggest the monkey in this context represents a debt or a heavy burden, while other interpretations suggest the monkey and donkey were simply added for lighthearted nonsense.

When was Pop Goes the Weasel first published?

While the melody is older, the earliest known publication of the specific title and tune is from a US sheet music printing in Baltimore in 1850. By 1852, the song had crossed back to England and became a massive dance hall craze. Lyrics were added incrementally, with the famous London-specific verses appearing in print shortly after.