June 14 is National Pop Goes the Weasel day!  What a fun day it will be too.  I had to look up the meaning of the rhyme and this is what I found.

It had to do with old England, (lots of stuff began in old England) and of course over time, things and their meanings change.  Today we think of Pop goes the weasel and we think of a skipping song where we all hold hands and dance around a mulberry bush and sing.  Versions of this have us falling backwards at the words, Pop goes the weasel and we all fall down.

Well, here is the real story:

Back in old England there were small towns all over the country and most of the inhabitants of the towns were, well nearly all relatives of each other.  Sort of like going camping in large groups, we look around and find that each of us tend to camp near our closest family.  Well Old England was much the same.  These villages had folks that all knew who was doing what and when and with whom.  Now introduce a stranger….OOOOOO….that person must be dealt with immediately, as they can not be up to any good.  Distrusted and evil for sure.  And so, in order not to let the stranger in on any conversations of theirs they made up words that meant other things.  One of those words was “weasel”, which meant “coat or jacket”.

I say there old bloke, fine weasel you have on!  Why Thank You my good man, what’s its pop?

What’s its pop?  That meant, what is it worth?  What will you give me for it?

As we all know about Old England, well current England for that matter, as some traditions never change!  I’ll drink to that!  There are pubs all over the place and each pub has it’s unique name.  One of the more famous pubs is called the “Eagle”.  I have not been in the place, but wish I had.  Well, folks didn’t have a whole lot of money, sort of like today, but they liked to visit the pub for a drink or two of ale with their buddies and they did it often enough to make sure the pub stayed in business.

They would work hard all day and all week and every night after work would hit the pub and spend their money.  Come Monday, the beginning of the new week, they didn’t have enough money to see themselves until the next payday on Friday, so into the pawn shop they would go and pawn their coats (thus Pop goes the Weasel).  After payday, they would stop off at the pawn shop and pick up their coat.  They had to have it to go to church on Sunday, after all it was their “sunday best” attire and they were proud of having such a fine weasel.

There are many versions of the song Pop Goes the Weasel, but one goes like this:

Up and down the streets of town, in and out of the Eagle

Pretty soon the money is gone

Pop goes the weasel!

——————

Do you get it?  Wandering up and down the streets with money in their pocket and of course their main reason for walking the street was to go to the pub, so in they went.  Well….you know.

So, over time, an American version was made up, after all no body erected a pub or bar or saloon and called it the Eagle.  But the kids still liked the tune and to dance around they had to have a song.

All around the mulberry bush

The monkey chased the weasel

The monkey stopped to tie his shoe

Pop goes the weasel!

—————-

Let’s analyze this one:  First off there is no such thing as a mulberry bush.  Mulberry tree yes, bush no.  So someone really was thinking outside the box for that one.  Secondly, how in the world did a monkey get into the mix in America?  Maybe in Africa but not here, so again someone was thinking outside the box big time.  Third, monkeys don’t wear shoes so why in the heck would it have to re-tye the shoe lace?  WAYYY outside the box.  These folks must have been drinking.  Eagle?  Eagle?   And finally fourth, did the weasel run into the back end of the monkey while it was bent over tying it’s shoe?  That’s my take on it and so Pop goes the weasel!  And the monkey is doing head over heels rolling away from the so called mulberry bush.

Well it’s all meant in fun anyway, so enjoy the day!

Bears Butt

June 14, 2012