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
Nipper
Born Bristol (and/or found as a stray, sources differ). Mixed breed with a reputation for nipping visitor's legs, hence the name. His owner, Mark Barraud (1848-1887) worked as a scenery designer i...
Heritage Foundation
We believe this group now encompasses Comic Heritage, Musical Heritage, Sports Heritage and Films and Television Heritage. Its aim is to pay tribute to Britain's entertainers and raise funds for go...
Group, Cinema, History, Humour, Music / songs, Sport / Games, Theatre, TV & Radio
Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America
This organisation seems to incorporate the Theatre and Film Guild of Great Britain and America. Wikipedia gives an overview of this charity's activities. 2025: the Guild let us know that their new...
E. A. Jay
Associated with the Wesleyan Schools, Leswin Road, 1883. In particular, the choir.
Joe Strummer
Co-founder and lead singer of The Clash. Born as John Graham Mellor in Turkey and raised in Scotland. "London Calling" is his. Died suddenly of a heart defect at his home in Somerset.
Previously viewed
Joseph Simms at St John's
EC1, St John's Lane, 33, Watchmaker Court
The plaques read left to right chronological by birth date. We've taken the dates on each plaque to be date of birth and date of death bu...
Second Lieutenant Frederick Johnson, VC
Soldier. Born Frederick Henry Johnson in Streatham. In an attack on Hill 70 in the Battle of Loos on 25th September, 1915, he was with a section of his company of the Royal Engineers. Although woun...
Clapham Odeon
SW12, Balham Hill, 10 - 12
In our picture the plaque is above the poster which the man is walking past.
University of London External System
Distance learning, now known as 'International Programmes'.
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