"I'm a Little Teapot" is an American novelty song describing the heating and pouring of a
teapot or a
whistling tea kettle. The song was originally written by George Harry Sanders and Clarence Z. Kelley and published in 1939. By 1941, a ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' article referred to the song as "the next inane novelty song to sweep the country".
Creation
Kelley and his wife ran a
dance school for children, which taught the "Waltz Clog", a popular and easy-to-learn
tap dance
Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...
routine. This routine, however, proved too difficult for the younger students to master. To solve this problem, George Sanders wrote "The Teapot Song", which required minimal skill and encouraged natural
pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...
. Both the song and its accompanying dance, the "Teapot Tip", became enormously popular in America and overseas.
The song was recorded and made famous by Art Kassel and His Kassels in the Air orchestra with featured vocalist Marion Holmes singing the tune. It was published in 1941 by Bluebird Records. (Marion Holmes soon after married Broadway, film, and TV star
Don DeFore.)
The lyrics begin "I'm a little teapot, short and stout..." and go on to further describe the appearance and actions of the singer-as-teapot. The song may be accompanied with actions: extending one arm in a curve like the spout, placing the other arm like the handle, and bending sideways to pour.
Recordings
"I'm a Little Teapot" has been recorded by a number of artists, particularly on children's albums. It's been released as a single by various artists besides Kassel, including
Horace Heidt (1941),
Lawrence Duchow's Red Raven Orchestra (1956),
Judy Valentine, and
Two Ton Baker (1947). It's included on
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...
's 1973 album ''Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf plus 10 More Great Children's Favorites''.
In popular culture
The song is played extensively in the 1999
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
miniseries
In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...
''
Storm of the Century''.
In the episode "Pavlov's Mice" of ''
Pinky and the Brain'', Brain sings the song itself.
See also
*
American tea culture
*
Tea for Two (song), an earlier North American song referring to tea, from 1925
*
Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol
External links
Art Kassel's version(audio)
1939 US Copyright Application
References
{{authority control
American children's songs
1939 songs
Fictional objects
Teapots
Novelty songs