I've been writing a lot of very long blogs these days and I want to thank you readers who have managed to wade through the tomes. So, today, I thought I'd do something kinda fun and, most importantly, short!
June 14th is National Pop Goes the Weasal Day. I had to ask myself, why on earth, they would have a day set aside to remember a childhood nursery rhyme. I consulted Google and found the history of the rhyme, but not much on WHY it has it's own special day. The history is pretty entertaining so I'll share what I learned.
Pop Goes the Weasal is a popular ditty for children's jack-in-box toys to play, but the tune may go back as far as the late 1700's. It was, orginally, an old English dance and the lyrics were added in the mid-1800's. There are several verses to the original song and learning what the slang terms mean, helps to clarify what the song is all about
"Up and down the City road,
In and out the Eagle,
That's the way the money goes,
Pop! goes the weasel."
Here, "pop" is a Cockney slang term for pawn and "weasal" refers to a coat. The "eagle" refers to a the Eagle Pub in northern London; Patrons of the pub are pawning their coat for money after a big night out.
In the more modern American version, the mulberry bush is often replaced with the words cobbler's bench or carpenter's bench. (Seamstress makes more sense to me but, hey, I wasn't consulted.)
"All around the mulberry bush,
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey thought ’twas 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."
And, again, "pop" means pawn and "weasal" means coat; ie the carpenter or cobbler is pawning his coat to buy a needle and thread.
The song has an interesting history, for sure, but that still doesn't explain why it has it's own special day. And there appears to be no data to explain it, so I'll leave the reason up to your imagination.
And if you're like me, you'll probably wind up humming, or singing, this blasted tune for the rest of the day!
June 14th is National Pop Goes the Weasal Day. I had to ask myself, why on earth, they would have a day set aside to remember a childhood nursery rhyme. I consulted Google and found the history of the rhyme, but not much on WHY it has it's own special day. The history is pretty entertaining so I'll share what I learned.
Pop Goes the Weasal is a popular ditty for children's jack-in-box toys to play, but the tune may go back as far as the late 1700's. It was, orginally, an old English dance and the lyrics were added in the mid-1800's. There are several verses to the original song and learning what the slang terms mean, helps to clarify what the song is all about
"Up and down the City road,
In and out the Eagle,
That's the way the money goes,
Pop! goes the weasel."
Here, "pop" is a Cockney slang term for pawn and "weasal" refers to a coat. The "eagle" refers to a the Eagle Pub in northern London; Patrons of the pub are pawning their coat for money after a big night out.
In the more modern American version, the mulberry bush is often replaced with the words cobbler's bench or carpenter's bench. (Seamstress makes more sense to me but, hey, I wasn't consulted.)
"All around the mulberry bush,
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey thought ’twas 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."
And, again, "pop" means pawn and "weasal" means coat; ie the carpenter or cobbler is pawning his coat to buy a needle and thread.
The song has an interesting history, for sure, but that still doesn't explain why it has it's own special day. And there appears to be no data to explain it, so I'll leave the reason up to your imagination.
And if you're like me, you'll probably wind up humming, or singing, this blasted tune for the rest of the day!
RSS Feed