A Ripping Trip
[Air: Pop Goes the Weasel]

1
You go aboard of a leaky boat,
And sail for San Francisco;
You've got to pump to keep her afloat,
You have that, by jingo.
The engine soon begins to squeak,
But nary thing to oil her;
Impossible to stop the leak-
Rip goes the boiler!

2
The captain on the prominade
Looking very savage;
Steward and the cabin maid
Fighting 'bout a cabbage;
All about the cabin floor,
Passengers lie sea-sick-
Steamer's bound to go ashore-
Rip goes the physic!

3
"Pork and beans" they can't afford
To second cabin passengers;
The cook has tumbled overboard
With forty pounds of "sassengers;"
The engineer, a little tight,
Bragging on the Main Line,
Finally gets into a fight-
Rip goes the engine!

4
The cholera begins to rage,
A few have got the scurvy;
Chickens dying in their cage-
Steerage topsy-turvy.
When you get to Panama,
Greasers want a back-load;
Officers begin to jaw-
Rip goes the railroad!

5
When home, you'll tell an awful tale,
And always will be thinking
How long you had to pump and bail,
To keep the tub from sinking.
Of course you'll take a glass of gin,
'Twill make you feel so funny;
Some city sharp will rope you in-
Rip goes your money!

Put's Golden Songster, pp. 46-47
Tune and lyrics in Dwyer & Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush, pp. 31-32

______________________________

A Kentuckyian lately visited New York and put up at the Astor House. When he was ready to leave, the clerk asked if he should send up for his baggage. "Wall, yes," said he, "it is so far up them dod rotted stairs, that you may send for it." The waiter went up and soon returned, saying there was no baggage in his room. "I forgot to tell you," says Kentucky, "that I put it under my pillow, last night, there's so many of these strikers round." "What is it, then?" asked the waiter. "Why, a bowie knife and a clean dicky, wrapped up in a piece of paper. My revolver I've got here, for I allers sleep with that in my side pocket, d'ye see?"
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Click to play (numachi.com)

[Tune notes by Artful Codger]
The history of "Pop Goes the Weasel" is so surrounded by misinformation I won't hazard a summary here, but it seems to have experienced a surge in popularity around 1853.

Sheet music [PDF; 1856] in the Lester S. Levy Collection.
Digital Tradition: Pop Goes the Weasel
Mudcat thread: Help: Pop Goes the Weasel - Meaning?

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