Deborah Bower writes: “On to the myth and I think this is a tough one. The song “Pop goes the Weasel”. How old is it and does it refer to a wool winder, a hatter’s tool, or a tailors tool? I’ve had this discussion with balladeers in the tavern and they are in two camps, those who’d love to see it proven as an older tune and those who are convinced it’s 19th century. Nobody seems sure as to what exactly the weasel is, although most think it’s the wool winder. I’m confused because the words to the song talk about a cobbler’s bench. Do cobblers have a tool called a weasel? Is it a cobbler’s work song?”
Antique Yarn Winder or Yarn Weasel
There are several versions to the song, “Pop Goes the Weasel,” all of which end with that refrain. “All around the mulberry bush” is one first line; “All around the cobbler’s bench” is another; and there are more that shall remain nameless here.
First I consulted with my expert, Al Saguto, Colonial Williamsburg’s master shoemaker who was kind enough to spend some research time on this question. I learned that shoemakers and cobblers were originally different trades. Shoemakers were the skilled artisans who made shoes, and cobblers were the shoe repair men. It was a grave insult to call a shoemaker a cobbler, in fact, the Oxford English Dictionary gives a secondary definition of cobbler as a person who works clumsily, so it was a general insult as well.
From around 1600 to 1800, skilled shoemakers used workbenches in their trade. Poorer cobblers did not have such nice furniture; they used a three-legged stool. That changed around the middle of the 19th century when the two trades merged (Why? The introduction of manufactured shoes left the shoemaker with less work and forced him to lower himself to repair work.) The words “cobbler’s bench,” Saguto says, suggests that this version of the song could not have come about before the middle of the 1800s, when cobblers became synonymous with shoemakers and might have used a bench. Proving that we are on the right track, 1850 is also the earliest documented existence of the song.
So, did cobblers (or shoemakers) have a tool called a weasel? Saguto said no, and a check of the OED provided no evidence to the contrary. I then contacted Jay Gaynor, Director of Historic Trades at Colonial Williamsburg and a former curator of mechanical arts who has a passion for antique tools. Gaynor had heard of a weasel, in fact, he owns two. It is a yarn winder, often called a yarn weasel. Gaynor explained how the thing worked, winding and measuring yarn and making a distinct POP! as it registered a certain number of yards. When you examine the rest of the rhyme, “A penny for a spool of thread, A penny for a needle,” the words would seem to fit in with the yarn and thread subject.
another yarn weasel
What doesn’t fit is the cobbler’s bench. For that matter, neither does the mulberry bush or the monkey. Mulberry bushes were common in England and America, and figure in other children’s songs (“Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush”). The OED offers numerous definitions of the word “monkey,” but none that relate to spinning, weaving, yarn, sewing, or weasels.
So, where does this leave us? Clearly, this is not a song that a cobbler sang while working at his bench. A weasel is not a cobbler’s tool, it is a spinning tool used to measure and wind yarn. “Pop goes the weasel” refers to the clicking sound that the counter makes. The earliest known appearance of the song is around 1850 in Britain, so it probably isn’t very old. A few years later, it had made it to America where the lyrics changed: “All around the cobbler’s house,” or “All around the chicken coop,” or “All around the mulberry bush,” and our favorite, “All around the cobbler’s bench.”
another one
A reasonable conclusion would be that the song is part nonsense with a strong link to the spinning craft. If you still haven’t read enough about “Pop! Goes the Weasel,” check out this web site: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pop1.htm.
Funny, I always learned this as “all around the shoemaker’s bench” as a child….interesting!
That’s one first line I did not encounter in my ramblings! I think the conclusion still holds, though. Shoemaker or cobbler, a weasel isn’t a tool they would have used, nor is a monkey.
Dear Mary,
Dori’s comment isn’t probably far off in that shoemaker and cobbler become interchangeable terms in the later 19th and early 20th Century. I did some research myself, and couldn’t find any early (1850-1900) versions with “shoemaker’s bench.” If I had to make a guess, I would say her version was probably a twist on the cobbler theme by someone who didn’t recoginze the difference between the two occupations.
Dori,…don’t feel alone in the world. I daily have to explain the difference between shoemakers and cobblers in my work. Think of it as the shoemaker being a licensed electrician and the cobbler being pretty good at patching up things with a utility knife and some electrical tape. Even today, if somebody is said to “cobble” something together, it isn’t very complimentary.
If I ever find a monkey in my toolbox, y’all be the first ones to hear about it.
Yr. Srvnt.,
Brett Walker
I have read about the history of the song in a book from the library of my local fibre arts guild. I’ll check it out again at the next meeting so I can look it up again and I’ll let you know what I find. I seem to recall that the tune was ‘pinched’ from an earlier song (of course) and that the words were something about labouring for a pittance (a theme common to many trades, which could explain the prevalance of alternate lyrics?).
I’ve been told that this song actually refers to tailors
“Up and down the City Road,
in and out the Eagle,
that’s the way the money goes,
Pop goes the weasel”
The City Road in London had a lot of tailors working on it and The Eagle is a public house (I believe it is still there) where all the money is spent on beer.
To ‘Pop’ something was to take an item to the pawnbrokers shop (the usual line I believe was ‘To pop down to Uncle’s'- i.e. to take something to the pawnbrokers), and I think a weasel was one on the lesser used irons that could be managed without for periods of time, but unfortunately I am unable to track down my reference at this moment in time.
A good tune will frequently get new words to it – I’ve done it myself with the tune of ‘We Three Kings of Orient Are’. So tracking down the origin of a tune can be different to tracking down the origins of the words of a song.
Being that most of my associations bring everything back to the children, imagine you are a child while mom is winding yarn and dad is working in the shop. I have never had a problem with the mixed associations in a single rhyme, being that it was likely the children who started them anyway, and who can follow their logic? The child itself is probably the “monkey”. Just speculation, however.
I’d bet you were right when you said it’s mostly a nonsense song. When the explanation for a word or phrase origin has to get overly complicated, it’s generally fabricated. Spinning weasels were used in the 18th century, the song dates from the 1850s, as does the associated dance. Trying to make sense of nonsense is fun, but fruitless in the end. Thanks!