Pop Goes The Weasel - American Versions

American Versions

The song seems to have crossed the Atlantic in the 1850s where US newspapers soon afterwards call it "the latest English dance", and the phrase "Pop! goes the weasel" soon took hold. The remaining lyrics were still unstable in Britain, and as a result some of the US lyrics are significantly different and may have an entirely different source, but use the same tune. The following lyrics were printed in Boston in 1858:

All around the cobbler's house,

The monkey chased the people.

And after them in double haste,

Pop! goes the weasel.

In 1901 in New York the opening lyric was:

All around the chicken coop,

The possum chased the weasel.

The most common recent version was not recorded until 1914. In addition to the three verses above, American versions often include some of the following:

All around the Mulberry Bush,

The monkey chased the weasel.

The monkey stopped to pull up his sock, (or The monkey stopped to pull out his glock or The monkey stopped to scratch his nose)

Pop! goes the weasel.

Half a pound of tuppenny rice,

Half a pound of treacle.

Mix it up and make it nice,

Pop! goes the weasel.

Contemporary verses in the United States include these:

All around the mulberry bush (or cobbler's bench)

The monkey chased the weasel;

The monkey thought 'twas all in fun, (or "'twas all in good sport") (or "that it was a joke")

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.

Jimmy's got the whooping cough

And Timmy's got the measles

That's the way the story goes

Pop! goes the weasel.

There are numerous American versions as printed in Vance Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, Volume III, pp. 368-369. Randolph's #556, the A text. Collected 1926 from Mrs. Marie Wilbur of Pineville, Missouri.