I`m a Little Teapot: I`m a Little Teapot - lyrics and music. I`m a Little Teapot (or 'The Teapot Song') is a nursery rhyme about a tea pot written by George Harry Sanders and Clarence Kelly. This song is perfect to sing when the children are having 'tea party' or when they are 'cooking'. The HTTP 418 I'm a teapot client error response code indicates that the server refuses to brew coffee because it is, permanently, a teapot. A combined coffee/tea pot that is temporarily out of coffee should instead return 503. This error is a reference to Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol defined in April Fools' jokes in 1998 and 2014.
| 'I'm a Little Teapot' | |
|---|---|
| Song by George Harry Sanders and Clarence Kelley | |
| Released | 1939 |
| Genre | Children's music |
| Label | Kelman Music Corporation |
| Songwriter(s) | George Harry Sanders and Clarence Kelley |
'I'm a Little Teapot' is an American song describing the heating and pouring of a teapot or a whistling tea kettle. The song was originally written by George Harold Sanders and Clarence Z. Kelley and published in 1939.[1] By 1941, a Newsweek article referred to the song as 'the next inane novelty song to sweep the country'.[2]
Creation[edit]
Kelley and his wife ran a dance school for children, which taught the 'Waltz Clog', a popular and easy-to-learn tap dance 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. Both the song and its accompanying dance, the 'Teapot Tip', became enormously popular in America and overseas.[3]
'I'm a Little Teapot' 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 on Bluebird Records. Marion Holmes married Broadway, film, and TV star Don DeFore. Listen to songview Bluebird Record label
Dance[edit]
The song may be accompanied with actions: extending one arm in a curve like the spout, placing the other arm akimbo like the handle, and bending sideways to mimic pouring.
Lyrics[edit]
The original lyrics are as follows:[4]
I'm a little teapot,
Short and stout,
Here is my handle
Here is my spout
When I get all steamed up,
Hear me shout,
Tip me over and pour me out!
I'm a very special teapot,
Yes, it's true,
Here's an example of what I can do,
I can turn my handle into a spout,
Tip me over and pour me out!
See also[edit]
- Tea for Two (song), an earlier North American song referring to tea, from 1925
References[edit]
- ^Sanders, Ronald (January 1972). Reflections on a Teapot, the Personal History of a Time. Harper & Row, New York. ISBN978-0-06-013754-0.
- ^Newsweek (1941), Vol. 18, p. 10.
- ^Clark, Garth (October 2001). The Artful Teapot. Watson-Guptill. ISBN0-8230-0319-1.
- ^https://lyricstranslate.com/en/George-Harry-Sanders-Teapot-Song-Im-Little-Teapot-lyrics.html
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Im A Little Teapot is a perfect song to sing around the campfire with preschoolers. It's short, it's simple, and if your little ones have been to preschool or have listened to children's CDs, they probably know it already!
As a matter of fact, you probably learned it when you were a child yourself! Its cheerful tune and easy-to-learn words make it an obvious choice for teaching to the youngest children.
When you are singing around the campfire, be sure to include simple songs like this one for the toddlers as well as more challenging songs for the big guys!
The words
You may know the tune to I'm a Little Teapot already - but do you know the words well enough to sing them around the campfire?
Here they are!
I'm a little teapot
Short and stout
Here is my handle
Here is my spout
When I get all steamed up
Hear me shout
Just tip me over
And pour me out!
I'm A Little Teapot Printable
The actions
Most two-, three- and four-year olds love action songs! Even the big kids can get caught up in the fun around a campfire and might be willing to do the actions - especially if the adults are joining in too. Being silly together around the campfire is part of a great family camping trip!
- Place one hand on your hip to make the handle.
- Hold up the opposite hand and arm to form a spout.
- Tip to the side in the direction of the handle.
Have fun!
History of I'm a Little Teapot
I used to think that this tune is just a children's nursery school song, but it has a more interesting history.
Back in the 1930s, a gentleman named Clarence Kelly and his wife (whose name I could not discover although I tried) ran a children's dance school. They taught tap dancing, among other things.
Their older students learned the popular tap dances of the time, but the littlest dancers had trouble with even the easiest dance in the repertoire.
Clarence and his buddy George Sanders, who played the piano at dance recitals, decided to create a dance that was easy enough for even the youngest children to learn. They created a song with lyrics that reinforced the dance moves. The dance, appropriately named 'The Teapot Tip', was a hit!
The song (which is actually titled 'The Teapot Song', not 'Im a Little Teapot') was published in 1939. It was recorded in Big Band style by Ronnie Kemper and the Horace Heidt Orchestra and sold a million records!
Interesting postscript: George Sanders' son Ronald grew up to become a history professor and respected writer. When he wrote his memoirs, he titled them 'Reflections on a Teapot: The Personal History of Time'.
Go to the Complete Family Camping Guide home page for information on all aspects of planning a camping trip.
