Did you know ‘Pop goes the Weasel’ is a country dance, as well as a nursery rhyme? It is thought the popular song dates back to the mid-19th century, and is often used in Jack-in-the-box toys and for ice cream trucks.
The dance originated as an instrumental jig except for when it comes to the ‘pop goes the weasel’ part. This is then sung as one pair of dancers move under the arms of the other dancers.
There are lots of theories behind the phrase P’op Goes the Weasel’. According to reports a weasel can be a tailor’s flat iron, silver-plate dishes, a dead animal, a hatter’s tool, or a spinner’s weasel.
Did you know there’s a national ‘Pop Goes the Weasel Day in the USA? It’s on June 14 in case you want to join in the fun
‘Pop goes the Weasel’ lyrics
Half a pound of tuppenny rice,
Half a pound of treacle.
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop! Goes the weasel.
Other verses of ‘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.
Main image © Author Josephine PollardIllustrator Ferdinand Schuyler Mathews, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons