Talk:Pop Goes the Weasel

message: Maybe they are completely nonsensical...just a thought...Colin4C 11:30, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Well not all cockney slang was rhyming slang, just as not all rhyming slang is cockney. I've never heard of 'weasel' for a wedding ring,  but you may find a similar-sounding term in Irish, Yiddish, Romani, Shelta, Hindi/Urdu, Thieves cant, or one of the many, many other languages that have donated words to English usage. pablohablo. 21:13, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Lyrics 

message: As I know the tune (since I was a child) and indeed even as it was whistled by Riker in the episode of ST-TNG quoted in the article, the third note from the end as shown in the sheet music should be an F not a D.  That is to say the last three notes descend in order.  Searching various midi files on the internet which unfortunately I may not link to as they do not seem to be in the public domain, this seems to be borne out by how everyone else who knows the tune expects it to sound too.  In other words, the sheet music is wrong.  A public domain midi or ogg version of the song would be useful is someone has the resources to create and/or host.  Aethandor (talk) 09:42, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: As I was reviewing sources, I found that this original version of the music was a variance of an old song. Also that it changed over time. I don't read music, but is it possible the sheet music shown (which is historic) is just a variant. Or is it completely out of tune with those different notes. Rublamb (talk) 20:22, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

text: I don't read music, so I can't vouch for the exact pitch of the notes, but I can sing along with it if I know the tune, and it looks like the staff is missing a note. There should be a note, a step or two below middle C, between the eighth and ninth notes shown (by count, I mean, not "eighth note"). And in fact there's a little gap there where that note should be. Basically, it's missing a "the": "All a-round the co-obb-ler's bench [the] mon-key chased the wea-sel." Unless they are intending the little dot on note # 8 to mean that "bench" and "the" are sung together, but I don't think that's correct. "The" should drop a note or two down, to an "A" or whatever. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? 11:21, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

text: You're still missing that A or whatever, between notes 8 and 9. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? 17:26, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

text: Image:Pop Goes the Weasel melody.PNG is sourced but has no fair-use rationale for Pop Goes the Weasel. Hyacinth (talk) 23:37, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Displayed tune is incorrect 

message: I just added the version I learned as a child in Ireland:
:I went into a tailor's shop;
:I picked up a needle;
:the tailor came out
:and gave me a clout.
:Pop! goes the weasel. 
Sorry I have no citation to support it, so someone may delete it, but at least it is interesting because the scene is set in the tailor's shop, complete with needle and weasel. Another thing: I was taught a version where the first four notes were the same. I notice that in the here, the first two notes are the same, and the following two notes are above them. Interesting. --71.208.51.129 (talk) 19:53, 17 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Irish version 

message: The tune to Nancy Dawson, from the mid 1700's, is often quoted as being the tune leading to Pop Goes the Weasel. Of course, no music is original so who knows where that was ripped off from.
:Is there a source for this? I could only find it on blogs? Rublamb (talk) 21:44, 20 November 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nancy Dawson 

message: I have collected a lot of information about and studied these lyrics for well over 5 years now. The following is 3/4 pure results of my research, and 1/4 logical deduction and fully open to input and comment, Please:
---------
One relatively recent form of the lyrics (believed to be from the 1850's) go as follows:
Half a pound of tuppenny rice, 
Half a pound of treacle. 
Mix it up and make it nice, 
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.
Up and down the City Road, 
In and out the Eagle, 
That's the way the money goes, 
Pop! goes the weasel. 
-------
One common explanation of the meaning invokes the use of cockney slang claiming that "pop goes the weasel" refers to "pawning one's coat ("weasel" -> "weasel and stoat" -> nowadays means "coat"))"
However, I believe the meaning is somewhat different, yet still cockney slang. "Pop", in this case probably simply means "pop" (as in "oops, it's all gone... shot, blown". Rather than "COAT", however, I believe that one meaning for the cockney slang for "weasel" in older days (sorry no specific reference available as yet - still searching) referred to a denomination of money (as a great many cockney slang, especially those referring to animals, did then and still do to this day) and actually refers to the, now obsolete, currency the "GROAT".  By the way "monkey" used in other verses of the song is coincidentally current cockney slang for a 500 pound note (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_slang) ... coincidence? The original English "groat" was a silver coin worth roughly 4 pence originally (and various other values later as it was depreciated). I am, among other things an avid collector of old coinage.
If you add up the values mentioned in the first two versus of this commonly published version of the song you come out with a total of 4 pennies which amazingly enough, equals 1 groat for the first two verses. In the era of tupenny rice (meaning rice selling for 2 pennies per pound, or 1 penny per 1/2 pound) 1/2 lb of treacle (a sugary syrup) also generally sold for a penny, as I researched. Note (importantly): the lyrics do NOT say, "that's the way the money goes" after the FIRST verse, only after the second. Therefore these two versus were meant to go together (versus the third verse, which DOES say "that's the way the money goes" and explained further below)
The groat was originally created in the 1300's as a silver coin worth 4 pennies. It was abandoned in the mid-1600's. However... it was newly reissued in 1835 and used as late as 1890 (according to Brewer's 1870 Dictionary of Phrase and Fable - late 1800s revised edition - "the modern groat was introduced in 1835, and withdrawn in 1887" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewer%27s_Dictionary_of_Phrase_and_Fable).
Cockney slang is generally believed to have originated in the 1840's shortly before the reported origin of the above referenced version of the song. The groat at that time had just recently been revived in 1835, thus logically being still quite popular in the current vernacular. It all logically fits! In this context, the coat-pawning, based on today's contemporary slang is arguably logically more of a reach than this explanation.
The additional "Eagle" verse (if truly used at the same time) seems to fit quite nicely as referring to spending ones money as well, in a different way. If you look at the words again closely, with respect to the the above information it all fits perfectly as a commentary that you can either spend your money responsibly "eating modestly and maintaining ones clothing appearance" or "blowing ones earnings solely at the Eagle" (and starving as a shoddy bum). Either way it's all gone. 
Based purely on my own personal reading of the various verse origins data, I would strongly suggest that the Eagle verse was an independent satirical, parody stage performance version with modified lyrics of the then popular tune, much like a modern day "Weird Al" spoof. These were quite common then as well.
I can provide more citations concerning prices, dates, etc. Or they may be left as an exercise for the page manager and reader.
Cheers!
  Mike M. 
MikePCAP (talk) 10:49, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  MikePCAP 

message: OK - it's original research, but what about truth!  I refer you to 
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm4/print_doc.php?CISOROOT=/broadside&CISOPTR=266&DMSCALE=14.14761&DMWIDTH=600&DMHEIGHT=600&DMMODE=viewer&DMTEXT=&REC=2&DMTHUMB=1&DMROTATE=0
Which is an 1854 Broadside ballad entitled 'Down By The Dark Arches' [under the railway]. Observe verse 5 in which the narrator is assaulted by a ruffian 'with black eye and stick' who precedes the attack by announcing 'Pop goes the Weasel'.  This surely indicates the phrase was understood at that time to presage violence (with a stick?) Perhaps the Weasel was the stick? and the 'Pop' was what it did to your head?
Or more generally perhaps 'an explosion of activity'? (weasels being very active creatures).
109.144.254.80 (talk) 21:51, 31 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: An independent reference

message: All,
My family are Londoners back to the 1840s and seem quite attentive to family traditions (i.e., they are actively interested in things like the meaning of this song). No guarantee of anything, obviously, but anyway I asked my folks what "the weasel" was. They said it is what the rent money was called in their family, stretching back as far as anyone could remember. So they presumed that was what the song was talking about. Seems to fit with the theme of money being spent as quick as you have it - some cheap rice, some treacle, waste some money down the pub, pop goes the weasel. 
Cheers
Mike Knights  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.195.24.98 (talk) 17:56, 14 July 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Weasel 

message: A contributor removed info from « Pop recordings » section because it was unsourced and decided it was trivial. I've moved these here to preserve the work in the hope someone will want to source the more important ones (ie by major artists or chart success) and include it again.
*A pop version of the song was recorded in 1938 by The Merry Macs on Decca Records (Decca 64413-A) added back with source Rublamb (talk) 10:09, 11 December 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: More pop culture content needed sources to be reinserted in the article:
*The 1989 film, A Day at Camp, has this song sung around the campfire by The Kidsongs Kids and their counsellors, Chris, Debbie and Eddie.
*The early 90s film, Barney in Concert, features this song.
*It is from the "Jungle" episode of Face's Music Party.
*In the 1996 film The Long Kiss Goodnight, the character Mitch Henessey, says, "No. I sock them in the jaw and yell, 'Pop goes the weasel'" when answering a question about defloration.
*In the BBC comedy panel show I'm_Sorry_I_Haven't_a_Clue, comedian Tony Hawks was asked to give a response to the spoken line "half a pound of tuppenny rice, half a pound of treacle," and got a good audience response with "OK, who ordered the treacle biryani?"
*The 2009 video game Plants vs. Zombies features a zombie carrying an explosive jack-in-the-box with the tune of "Pop Goes The Weasel."
*In 1996 the game Perfection release a new commercial jingle, "Pop Goes Perfection", to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel" with the following lyrics:  "Put the pieces into the slot" "make the right selection" "but be QUICK! You're racing the clock" "POW! Pop goes Perfection!" "This piece here and that piece there" "Put those pieces EVERYWHERE!" "But be quick, or beware" "POW! Pop goes Perfection!
*In video game Five Nights at Freddy's 2, the music box will play "Pop! Goes the Weasel" when the Puppet is about to attack player after leaving the Music Box unwind.
Rublamb (talk) 19:44, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removed info 

message: I removed the following from the article because it lacks a source:
A standard modern Canadian version goes: "All around the Cottage about, the monkey chased the weasel, the monkey thought it was all a big/good joke, Pop! Goes the weasel." Rublamb (talk) 17:15, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Canadian variant 

message: Like a skunk, when threatened, weasels will emit a foul smelling spray. 'The monkey thought [the chase] was all in fun; Pop goes the weasel!' 184.151.37.20 (talk) 21:53, 26 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Weasels spray