Pop Goes the Weasel

"Pop! Goes the Weasel" (Roud 5249) is a traditional old English song, a country dance, nursery rhyme, and singing game that emerged in the mid-19th century. The melody is often used in jack-in-the-box toys and is frequently played by ice cream trucks.

Origin

In the early 1850s, Miller and Beacham of Baltimore published sheet music for "Pop goes the Weasel for Fun and Frolic". By December 1852, "Pop Goes The Weasel" was a popular social dance in England. A ball held in Ipswich on 13 December 1852 ended with "a country dance, entitled 'Pop Goes the Weasel', one of the most mirth inspiring dances which can well be imagined." On 28 December 1852, an advertisement in The Times promoted a publication that included "the new dance recently introduced with such distinguished success at the Court balls" and contained "the original music and a full explanation of the figures by Mons. E. Coulon". Eugène Coulon was a well-known dance-master.

Sheet music dated 1853 at the British Library describes it as "An Old English Dance, as performed at Her Majesty's & The Nobilities Balls, with the Original Music". Like its British counterpart, its only lyrics are "pop goes the weasel". Porter's version also describes the dance as taught at Mr. Sheldon's Academy in Philadelphia:<blockquote>

FIGURES: Form in Two Lines – Top Couple Ballaneez, Four Bars – then Gallop down inside and back, Four Bars – take the next Lady, Hands Round Four Bars – then Two Bars back and (while all Sing Pop goes the Weasel) pass her under your arms to her Place – Repeat with the lady's Partner then Gallop down the inside and back, Four Bars – and down outside to the other end of the line, Four Bars, which finishes the Figure – The next couple follows, &c. &c. By late 1854, lyrics were added to the well-known tune, with the first singing performance possibly at the Grecian Theatre. In 1855, The National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in England and Wales wrote that the song, commonly played by hand–organs on the streets, had "senseless words". In their monthly newsletter, the society referred to the song as "street music" on the level of "negro tunes", saying it was "contagious and pestilent".

In 1856, a letter to The Morning Post read, "For many months, everybody has been bored to death with the eternal grinding of this ditty on street." Since at least the late 19th century, the nursery rhyme was used with a British children's game similar to musical chairs. The players sing the first verse while dancing around rings. There is always one ring less than the number of players. When the "pop goes the weasel" line is reached, the players rush to secure a ring. The player that fails to secure a ring is eliminated as a "weasel". There are succeeding rounds until the winner secures the last ring.

Eugène Coulon

thumb|Pop goes the Weasel, Jullien & Co., 1852

On 24 December 1852, the Gloucester Journal newspaper reported that "A new dance has been introduced by a Frenchman—it is called 'Pop goes the Weasel', and from the title should be a comical affair". That Frenchman was probably either Eugène Coulon or Louis-Antoine Jullien, as four days later in The Times, London, music publishers Jullien & Co. advertised "Pop goes the Weasel: the new dance recently introduced ...is now published with the original music and a full explanation of the figures, by Mons. E. Coulon." In a later advertisement George Thompson is named as the arranger of the music.

Adding support to Coulon's role is an advertisement from a dance teacher, Madame Catarina St. Louin, offering lessons in the "latest and most fashionable dances, including "Pop goes the Weasel", "La Tempéte", and "Coulon's Quadrille", by permission of M. Eugène Coulon, as lately introduced by him at Her Majesty's and the Nobility's Balls".

The Jullien & Co. publication with the original music arranged by George Thompson is the oldest known music for the dance. In it Coulon described Pop goes the Weasel "as a very old and a very animated English dance that has lately been revived among the higher classes of society", and as his instructions were soon copied by other music publishers, with and without attribution, he appears to have been the authority for the dance.

Lyrics

British version

The lyrics may have predated the dance as either a rhyme or the lyrics of another song dating to the 1600s.

The most common additional verses are:

The March 1860 issue of the Southern Literary Messenger published a new verse:

In 1994, the American Folklife Center documented a version of the song with sixteen verses. The weasel's wooden gears are designed to make a popping sound after the 40th revolution to tell the spinner that the skein is completed. In this dialect "weasel" relates to "weasel and stoat", or coat, and "pop" relates the "pop shop" or pawnbrokers shop. The rhyme describes someone running short of money purchasing rice and treacle (metaphor for life's essentials); "that's the way the money goes". Subsequently, this forces them to sell (pop) their coat (weasel) to the pawnbroker (pop shop).

First verse

The first verse refers to "tuppenny rice" and "treacle" which are food. In her autobiographical novel Little House in the Big Woods (1932), American author Laura Ingalls Wilder recalled her father singing these lyrics in 1873:

Modern recordings

AllMusic lists hundreds of recordings of "Pop Goes the Weasel." Some of the most notable recordings are included below:

In 1938, Clay Boland created the foxtrot song "Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush" using the basic melody of the nursery rhyme with lyrics by Bickley Reichner. That year, the Boland/Reichner/Traditional song was recorded by:
Les Brown and His Orchestra
Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra with singer Edythe Wright.
Nat Gonella and His Georgians
The Merry Macs
Bill Haley & His Comets recorded "Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush" in 1953.
Bing Crosby included "Pop Goes the Weasel" in a medley on his 1961 album 101 Gang Songs.
in 1961, British singer Anthony Newley reached number 12 on the UK singles chart with his version of the song.
The pop group 1910 Fruitgum Company released a version of the song in April 1968.
Ella Jenkins recorded a traditional version of the song for her 1982 album Early Early Childhood Songs on the Smithsonian Folkways label.
In their 1991 album Derelicts of Dialect, 3rd Bass included a rap version of "Pop Goes the Weasel" which was lyrically an attack on rapper Vanilla Ice.

Popular culture

Comedy recordings

In 1964, comedian singer Allan Sherman recorded "Pop Hates the Beatles", a novelty song to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel" that condemns The Beatles with lyrics such as, "Ringo is the one with the drums / The others all play with him / It shows you what a boy can become / without a sense of rhythm."
Singing "pop goes the weasel" was a punchline to a Robin Williams joke about putting a hamster in the microwave oven. Williams included this bit on his 1979 album, Reality...What a Concept.
The Three Stooges film Punch Drunks (1934) Curley "goes berserk" whenever he hears "Pop Goes the Weasel" being played on a violin, which Moe and Larry exploit for a boxing match. The movie ends with the song playing.
The Three Stooges film Pop Goes the Easel (1935) uses "Pop Goes the Weasel" for its opening and closing tune.
In the 1999 biographical film Man on the Moon, a bartender tells Andy Kaufman, "I can't sell booze when you're singing 'Pop Goes the Weasel'" in response to the young comedian's act.
In the 2013 film Oz the Great and Powerful, a water fairy spits water in the Wizard's face after singing "Pop Goes the Weasel".

Literature

In 1924, Thomas William Hodgson Crosland published a novel called Pop Goes the Weasel.
M. J. Arlidge published the novel Pop Goes the Weasel in 2005
The song appears twice in Wilbert Awdry’sThe Railway Series; first in the 1958 book Duck and the Diesel Engine as ‘Pop Goes The Diesel’ in the story of the same name, then in the 1969 book Oliver the Western Engine as ‘Pop Goes Old Ollie’ in the story Toad Stands By. Both times the song has been rewritten to fit the narrative.

Music

In 1855, new lyrics were published by The National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in England and Wales, turning it into a "School Song for Boys."
In 1855, the Liverpool School for the Deaf and Dumb published the lyrics for their School Song, sung to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel."
Sheet music published in 1857 provided an arrangement for the guitar, along with new political lyrics.
Frank Tapp composed three works of large-scale variations for piano and orchestra based on the tune in 1915, 1930 and 1935.
Trumpeter Thad Jones quoted "Pop Goes the Weasel" on a solo on the Count Basie Orchestra's 1955 recording of "April in Paris".

Radio

The Beatles recorded a rock version of "Pop Goes The Weasel" as the theme music for the BBC Light Programme radio show Pop Go the Beatles that ran from 4 June to 24 September 1963. The British group recorded the jingle on 24 May 1963.

Television

From 1953 through 1981, the television show Romper Room's opening and ending featured "Pop Goes the Weasel" played on a Mattel's Jack-in-the-box.
In the golden age of the American Wrestling Association, The Crusher would bring a Jack-in-the-box to television interviews, winding the toy and singing "Pop Goes the Weasel" when the toy popped out of its box. The Crusher said the weasel was Bobby Heenan, a derisive nickname that stuck among Heenan's detractors.
In 1995's The Simpsons Season 6 episode "The PTA Disbands", music teacher Mr. Largo goes on strike allowing the students to play 'the forbidden music' which is "Pop Goes the Weasel"
In 1997's NYPD Blue (season 5), part of the plot of the episode "The Truth Is Out There" deals with the meaning of the song, "Pop Goes the Weasel."
Jamie Foxx and James Corden performed a "seductive" soul version of the song on The Late Late Show in 2017.
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Encounter at Farpoint", Data is trying to whistle "Pop Goes the Weasel" when Will Riker meets him for the first time.
In the November 3, 2013 episode of Masters of Sex, the character Libby gets drunk and sings "Pop Goes the Weasel" into her daiquiri.
During the end credits in season three of Star Trek: Picard, a set of musical notes appear on screen for a melody in the key of D major in time; it is "Pop Goes the Weasel".

Video games

The Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Zombies map Mob of the Dead features an Easter Egg that yielded a Pop Goes the Weasel Achievement Trophy when solved.
The 2019 video game Mortal Kombat 11 included an Easter egg associated with the Joker consisting of the letters "CCDDEGEC." These are the musical notes for the opening bar to "Pop Goes The Weasel."
The 2014 video game Five Nights at Freddy's 2 features an enemy named the Puppet, which will play the "Pop! Goes The Weasel" if it is not kept calm.

References

External links

Jas. W. Porter. (arrangement). "Pop Goes the Weasel." Philadelphia: J. W. Porter, 1853. (via Library of Congress)
Eugene Coulon (dance), John C. Scherpf (arrangement) "Pop Goes the Weasel, The New Dance". New York: Saml. C. Jollie, 1853. (via Library of Dance).
"Pop Goes the Weasel", an animated BBC version featuring different British lyrics