Can anyone tell me what the traditional tune is for those old jack in the boxes? I keep thiking it's "pop goes the weasle" but it just doesn't seem quite right.

WHy yes Copago, I can help you! If you had just used google you would have found in the second entry "They play 'Pop Goes the Weasel', the standard Jack-in-the- box tune." which seems to answer your question very nicely!

(ps you spelt 'weasel' wrong)

Poor dear... talking to herself again.

It gets lonely out in the bush.

Especially when your only company is a weasle [sic].

I had such a bad day today; thanks for the good laugh.

Yes definately "Pop Goes the Weasel" , had a Jack-in-a-box when I was younger. Always frightened me when it popped out!

We were too poor for me to have toys, I had to make do with cardboard boxes and they don't have a tune. I did once have a balloon, that went pop.

Did you have Hovis for tea though, Sue?

No, too poor for that, only posh people ate brown bread. Bread and dripping was a luxury (it meant we had had a joint of meat) and Sunday lunch was normally steak and kidney pie. I did have shoes though.

All I know is that those jack-in-the-boxes scared the dickens out of me when I was little. What a toy! Wind it up and it makes fun music and then this clownish thing pops out and scares you. Didn't like it at all! Never paid much attention to the tune. The panic attack erased all that...

I just got my daughter a jack in the box that is shaped like a doghouse and a puppy pops out the top. She thinks it's the greatest. It's actually designed for a child much younger than her, but we were at a thrift store and she found it and carried it to the counter, and usually when we're somewhere like that I let her pick out something small and cheap to take hom. That's what she wanted, so $1 later, that's what she got. It plays pop goes the weasel, of course, even though it's a puppy, not a weasel, or even a clown for that matter.

Wish i could get this song out of my head ... but at least I now know the words and a bit of useless information from http://www.kididdles.com/mouseum/p009.html

"There are many versions of this rhyme. Some have the monkey chasing the weasel around the cobbler’s bench (what we believe to be the ‘official’ version). In others, they’re chasing around the Mulberry Bush.

There are also a number of speculations on its origin. It is almost certainly from England, however, as the consensus is that "the Eagle" is a pub in London. The rhyme probably dates from the 17th or 18th century."

The words that I know are:

Half a pound of tuppenny rice
Half a pound of treacle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel

Now I can't stop singing it. Anyone for Oranges and Lemons?

Up and down the City Road,
In and out of the Eagle;
That's the way the money goes,
Pop goes the weasel.

Half a pound of tuppenny rice etc(what Sue said)

The Eagle tavern replaced the gardens of the Shepherd and Shepherdess when the City Road was built in the East End of London in 1825.
The new proprietor was a man called Rouse, commonly known as "Bravo Rouse". He was an adventurous man who provided new entertainment to entertain his customers. He arranged balloon ascents, built the Russian mountains made of scenic model railways, and in 1831 converted the ornaments used for the coronation of William IVth into a large ornamental entrance to his pleasure gardens. He extended the Eagle tavern, and the site was then called the Royal Eagle Coronation Pleasure grounds. In 1832 he built a Grecian Saloon and provided dancing and entertainment there.It had 2 stone eagles on pillars at either side of the entrance. It was demolished at the turn of the century.
The song was written in the 1830's by Charles Sloman and he sung it in low dives like the Cyder Cellars and the Coal Hole.
The song, the words of which were often changed,included sayings and phrases popular at the time, Pop Goes the Weasel being one of them.
The weasel was a tailor's "Goose" or heavy iron, something that could easily be pawned, or ' popped'.( It was said that the Eagle tavern was also a betting shop). There.

Here's a version from a web search.

All around the cobbler's bench,
The monkey chased the weasel.

The monkey thought't was all in fun,
Pop! goes the weasel.

A penny for a spool of thread,
A penny for a needle.

That's the way the money goes,
Pop! goes the weasel.