World Wide Words provides the following explanation:
Some of the references are now quite opaque, but we can take a fair shot at a few. In the second verse, the City Road was, still is, a well-known street in London, more than a mile long. The Eagle was a famous public house and music hall, which lay near the east end of the road on the corner of Shepherdess Walk; this had started its life as a tea-garden, but was turned into a music hall in 1825 (one of the very first); it ended its days as a Salvation Army centre and was pulled down in 1901. However, it was replaced by another pub, which still exists under the same name.
The City Road had a pawnbroker’s shop near its west end and to pop was a well-known phrase at the time for pawning something. So the second verse says that visiting the Eagle causes one’s money to vanish, necessitating a trip up the City Road to Uncle to raise some cash. But what was the weasel that was being pawned? Nobody is sure. Some suggest it was a domestic or tailor’s flat-iron, a small item easy to carry. My own guess is that it’s rhyming slang: weasel and stoat = coat. Either way, it seems to have been a punning reinterpretation of the catch line from the older dance.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Pop goes the weasel
Commemorated ati
Eagle Tavern - song
Up and down the City Road In and out the Eagle That's the way the money goe...
Other Subjects
Sir Edward Elgar
Born in Broadheath, near Worcester. First moved to London on his marriage in 1889. A keen early adopting cyclist he often got inspiration from a country ride. On writing "Land of Hope and Glory" ...
Sir George Grove
Writer on music. Born at Thurlow Lodge, 74 Thurlow Terrace, Clapham. Although originally a civil engineer (he supervised the erection of the first lighthouse in Jamaica), his love of music drew him...
Kenny Everett
Comedy broadcaster. Born Maurice James Christopher Cole in Liverpool. Inspired by the Goons. Got a job on the pirate Radio London by sending in an audition tape. Worked for Radio Luxemburg, the...
Dame Myra Hess
Pianist. Born Julia Myra Hess in South Hampstead. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. During WW2, when concert halls were blacked out at night, she organise...
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