Pop Goes the Weasel

Background Sources

According to Wikipedia this country dance first became popular in December of 1852 in Brighton. In New York, 1853, Eugene Coulon edited a version with music and a description of the figure .

FIGURES. Form in Two Lines _
Top Couple Ballancez, Four Bars_ then Gallop down inside and back, Four Bars _ take the next Lady, Hands Round Four Bars_ then Two Bars back and (while all Sing Pop goes the Weasel) pass her under your arms to her Place_ Repeat with the lady's Partner then Gallop down inside and back, Four Bars_ and down outside to the other end of the line, Four Bars, which finishes the Figure_ The next Couple follows, &c. &c.

A textual source from 1857 is Hillgrove's The Scholar's Companion and Ball-Room Vade-Mecum (available from the Library of Congress).

The American Dancing Master - Howe, 1862, and American Country Dances - Emma Burchenal, 1918 have the same version as Hillgrove.

Hillgrove writes

This is performed in the same manner as the Country Dance, the ladies and gentlemen being placed in lines opposite to each other.

The couple at the top begin the figure. The run forward with the line and back, and then without the line and back again the same, each occupying four bars (16 bars).

After which they form a round of three, with one of the ladies next to them on the line, and turn once round to the right and once to the left, at the end of which making the one they have chosen pass quickly underneath their arms to her place - all singing "Pop goes the Weasel." (8 bars.)

They then turn quickly to the other line, and repeat the same figure with the partner of the last selected. (8 bars.)

After this they have to run forward and backward, inside and outside the line, and repeat the same figure with the next couple. When they have passed three couples, the lady and gentleman at the head begin and repeat the same figure, and so on for all the rest.

Surprisingly (to me anyway) the "popping" figure is not unique to this dance. It also shows up Wilson's Rural Felicity from A Companion to the Ballroom, 1816.

Over time the dance even morphed into a square dance. Henry Ford's Good Morning, 1925, contains an example. But here it is the actives who pop through, rather than the inactives, and they do it as a couple.

Head couple lead right and balance there so easy (head couple leads to right and stands and balances with that couple)	4 bars
Then join hands and circle half (the two couples join hands and circle half around.)	2 bars
Pop! goes the weasel (the right hand couple raises hands while the head couple bows through in under and leads to the next couple)	2 bars
Song is continued until the head couple returns to its original place. Next couple on right leads, continuing until each couple has completed movement.

Some dance examples

Hillgrove's 1857 (which I believe represents the original 1852) version

Eugene Coulon's 1853 whole set version, which mixes the figures up (and adds a balance).

Cecil Sharp found two different version in 1909 when he searched the English countryside for the last vestiges of Country Dancing there. Both of them have altered the figures and added a partner swing.

Larry Jenning's Zesty Contras (about 1983), is essentially the same as Hillgrove's original version — except that the 1s are improper.

Finally Henry Ford/Benjamin Lovett's version from 1925:

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My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.