Pop Goes the Weasel

An insidious nursery rhyme is this week's earworm

I could never be an ice cream truck driver.

As much as I love ice cream and its myriad frozen dessert brethren — Snow Cone, Popsicle, Creamsicle, Fudgsicle, Rocket Pop, Choco Taco, to name a few — and as much as I love bringing joy and sugar to children’s lives, and although I love driving (I’ve been employed as a driver four times in my life), I could never survive a single day having to subject my eardrums to instrumental loops of “La Cucaracha,” “Turkey in the Straw,” “Do Your Ears Hang Low,” or, more perniciously, “Pop Goes the Weasel,” for several continuous hours.

Simply writing the words “Pop Goes the Weasel” sets my brain a buzzin’ with the tune’s inescapable melody.

I had always considered "PGTW” a wind-up toy jack-in-the-box song. A tune hidden inside one of those cutesy, square boxes adorned with a metal gear on the side, which, after giving it a few twists, would begin to play the infamous jingle: “Do-Do-Do Do-Do-Do-Do-Do, Do-Do-Do Do-Do-Do, Do-Do-Do Do-Do-Do-Do-Do, Pop Goes the Weasel.”

And upon the word “pop,” the top panel of the box would flip open, projecting a spring-loaded weasel or clown or monster into your face, nearly bopping you in the nose.

If you happened to be a nervous little kid (like me) and had insensitive parents (or an uncle or grandparent or sibling), uncontrollable laughter would ensue, drowning out the circus-like nursery rhyme. And your barely contained sniffles.

For some, this might be considered childhood trauma. For others, a key moment that led to toughening oneself up, a preparation for handling life’s inevitable, scary, unexpected projectiles.

Pop Goes the Culture

Perhaps some of you might not be familiar with Pop Goes the Weasel. If that describes you, I’m guessing you are under the age of 40. But even old farts like me (and older, fartier folks too) likely don’t know all the words to the song. To get a better, more complete idea of this multi-generational classic, Check out this wonderful rendition, performed by the late, great, Andy Kaufman, from the Van Dyke & Company TV show (video above). I learned there are many more verses to it than I ever knew. Also, a surprise guest star appears at the start of the video, pulling off a brilliant Andy Kaufman/Latka Gravas impression.

My favorite pop-culture connection to the Pop Goes the Weasel tune, though, is its usage in the classic hip-hop track of the same name by 3rd Bass.

3rd Bass was “the other” New York, white-boy hip-hop crew from the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Comprised of MC Serch, Pete Nice, and DJ Richie Rich, 3rd Bass never received the fame, notoriety, or accolades as the Beastie Boys, but their first two LPs, 1989’s The Cactus Album and 1991’s Derelicts of Dialect, are stone-cold, old-school classics in my book—essential entries to the hip-hop hall of fame.

“Pop Goes the Weasel” incorporates samples from a few classics in my record collection, mixing in Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” Stevie Wonder’s “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” and The Who’s “Eminence Front.” Three of my all-time favorite songs, blended to create a fourth favorite.

The video is pretty dated, but it’s worth watching just to see Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) playing a school teacher, and Henry Rollins (Black Flag) dressed as Vanilla Ice.

I often catch myself mindlessly singing the chorus to myself (or to whoever happens to be near me). Like the best, most memorable lyrics, they are as simple and quickly embedded.

Pop pop goes the weasel, the weasel
Pop pop goes the weasel, the weasel
Pop pop goes the weasel, the weasel
Pop goes the weasel, 'cuz the weasel goes pop

The Origins of Pop Goes the Weasel

image by BobCuthillPhotography@gmail.com

According to Wikipedia, Pop Goes the Weasel is a traditional old English song from the early 1850s.

The first British mention of the phrase ‘pop goes the weasel’ dates from an 1854 advertisement by music publisher Boosey and Sons¹, which described “the new country dance ‘Pop goes the weasel’, introduced by her Majesty Queen Victoria.” (WorldWideWords.org)²

Though in the same WorldWideWords article, the author states that “the earliest reference I can find to music with this name actually comes from the United States, from sheet music entitled ‘Pop goes the Weasel for Fun and Frolic’, published in 1850 by Messrs Miller and Beacham of Baltimore.

It’s difficult to trace the precise origins, as there’s the phrase ‘pop goes the weasel’, in addition to the song and the dance. All have different origin stories. It sounds like the nursery rhyme aspect came a bit later. There are those who believe the original phrase was intended to be ribald and risque. You can probably guess what a weasel might refer to and what “popping” might represent.

American.Songwriter.com has a nice article³ about the origins of the tune and explores the various verse iterations, from the song’s Anglophile origins to adaptations that incorporated more American references. The child-appropriate version that many of us are most familiar with (or at least the Brits among us) came a few years later, in 1858.

Looking over the myriad iterations of the song’s lyrics, the version/s we Americans might recognize likely originated in the mid-20th century, when the cobbler’s bench in the first verse was replaced with a mulberry bush. That’s the one I know. Here’s a version from 1858, followed by the updated mid-20th century version:

All around the cobbler’s house,
The monkey chased the people.
And after them in double haste,
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.

All around the mulberry bush
The monkey chased the weasel
The monkey thought it was all in good fun
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.

A version from 1914 (believed to have been originated in NY), changed the 2nd verse to

Half a pound of tuppenny rice,
Half a pound of treacle.
Mix it up and make it nice,
Pop! goes the weasel.

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it hard to believe that the US version would include “tuppenny” and “treacle,” as they are very specific British terms, so take this info with a grain of basmati.

Also, if I’m being honest, a cobbler’s bench seems more relatable to me than a mulberry bush.

I’m not a historical economist, but if it cost a penny for a spool of thread in the mid-19th century, I would imagine that by the mid-1950s, it cost more than a penny for a similarly-sized spool of thread. But perhaps not?

Or perhaps should I say: perhaps knot? (This joke is for all you pun lovers, but especially

Brad Kyle

. Who would likely inform me that tying a knot with thread is, in fact, quite easy, and end his comment lobbing back at me: ‘Sew there.’)

The lyrics, though, are not all that important to me, as what I recall most from my childhood — and still to this day — is the melody of the song. When the ice-cream truck rolls down my street playing this catchy tune, it’s the instrumental version. When the jack-in-the-box begins to play, it’s playing the instrumental version. That’s my earworm.

Speaking of knots, doing all this research has tied my brain in one. If I’m going to listen to Pop Goes the Weasel with lyrics, I’ll stick to the version that Andy Kaufman lip-synchs along to at the top of this post.

A Prediction

I will end this piece with a prediction.

Within the next year — it could be as soon as next week — we will have a satire of this song titled, “Pop Goes the Measle,” as a response to the US anti-vax movement leading to a huge increase in kids becoming infected with measles. Perhaps it will be written by a young rapper who will bring 3rd Bass back together to record backing vocals.

You heard it here first.⁴

• I didn’t even go into the fact that nursery rhymes are some of the most insidious earworms. Pop Goes the Weasel is one that I struggle to earadicate, but perhaps there’s another that sticks to your grill?

• Do you have a personal connection or story to Pop Goes the Weasel?

• Leave a comment and like this post; I love hearing from my awesome community!

1. Now, Boosey and Hawkes. Boosey and Sons, as listed above, was actually (according to imslp.org), Boosey and Co. And another music publishing company, Hawkes and Son, Ltd., merged with the former, to create Boosey and Hawkes. Which is correct? You can figure it out.

2. https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pop1.htm

3. https://americansongwriter.com/meaning-pop-goes-the-weasel-nursery-rhyme-lyrics/

4. I will admit that it’s not an original prediction (the measles pun), as there is a version of PGTW from 1860 with the verse:

Queen Victoria’s very sick,
Prince Albert’s got the measles.
The children have the whooping cough,
And pop! Goes the weasel.