I'm a Little Teapot


"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. By 1941, a Newsweek article referred to the song as "the next inane novelty song to sweep the country".

Creation

Clarence 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.
"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.

Dance

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

The original lyrics are as follows:
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!