Talk:I'm a Little Teapot

Copyright?

If the words are from 1939 in the US, is there a possibility they are still under copyright and should not be in this article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:6000:F510:8F00:8C0:8A7E:168F:D512 (talk) 00:39, 1 August 2020 (UTC)

• Yes you're right, apparently the song belongs to some entity called Kelman Music Corporation. I'll take them out. Thanks for the heads up. Herostratus (talk) 03:17, 26 August 2021 (UTC)

Teapot or kettle?

"I'm a Little Teapot" is a nursery rhyme describing the boiling and pouring of a teapot.
So...how exactly do you boil a teapot then? And why would you want to? Unfortunately my brain isn't working well right now, I'll try and think of better phrasing then come back... Redclaire (talk) 00:20, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Maybe this is why the song is different in Britain: they actually know what they're talking about when it comes to tea. BirdValiant (talk) 05:17, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

It's amusing to get sugar bowls to sing this song -- they get confused at the "here is my spout" bit, as they have two handles. Someone standing with both arms akimbo may be termed a 'sugar bowl', particularly if they have a tendency to shortness and stoutness. --Christopher Ebert (talk) 23:24, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Music?

Can someone make a recording of the song please? – Kaihsu (talk) 17:23, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree that a short audio section of this song would be a great addition to this article. I'd suggest the sound track for 7 seconds from :15 - :22 of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vhPnKQG5Nc -- 7 seconds (audio only) out of an already public 85 second video should be fair use, especially if appropriately credited & linked. I'd even do that, but I don't know how. T bonham (talk) 01:16, 21 June 2017 (UTC)

Original Research Must Die

Where's the delete button? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jtdunlop (talk • contribs) 11:17, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm a doge!

doge?

(Both hands on hips)

I'm a little teapot

Short and stout

This is my handle...

...Oh bugger, I'm a doge!--Antster1983 (talk) 23:04, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

Great comment thanks for sharing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1014:B1EC:E8D4:ECDA:8CAC:2760:2810 (talk) 00:00, 21 August 2023 (UTC)

Lyrics

Though many variations have arisen over the years, the popular lyrics are as follows (dance motions in parentheses):

First verse:

I'm a little teapot,

Short and stout,

Here is my handle (one hand on hip),

Here is my spout (other arm out with elbow and wrist bent),

When I get all steamed up*,

Hear me shout*,

Tip me over and pour me out! (lean over toward spout)

Second verse:

I'm a special teapot,

Yes, it's true,

Here's an example of what I can do,

I can turn my handle into a spout, (switch arms)

Tip me over and pour me out!, icetea8 (talk) 12:08, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Cliff Edwards (aka, "Ukulele Ike" and the cartoon voice of Pinocchio's "Jiminy Cricket") made a recording with the following lyrics:

I'm a little teapot, short and stout!

Here is my handle, here is my spout!

When I get all steamed up, then I shout:

Just tip me over, pour me out!

(Following bridge has a different melody.)

"Polly, put the kettle on and we'll all have tea!"

Grandma used to sing...

Notice, though the taste has changed in so many ways,

Yet, to the pot we cling!

Oh, I'm a little teapot, short and stout!

Here is my handle, here is my spout!

When I get all steamed up, then I shout:

Just tip me over, pour me out!

Origin?

Does this song have a history before George Harry Sanders? It resembles http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=biSeQgTyAoc but I can't find a source saying it does. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.1.85.60 (talk) 09:37, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

In my opinion, the opening melody resembles a major-chord variation of "Hatikvah", Israel's national anthem. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Stauffr (talk • contribs) 15:18, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

• Which apparently Sanders also wrote... Herostratus (talk) 03:55, 26 August 2021 (UTC)

Cultural references

Mention of Family Guy's Stewie singing this song with a very different dance?41.219.54.209 (talk) 17:40, 25 September 2012 (UTC) ëě

I believe that the composer "George Harold Sanders" MIGHT be George Henry Sanders the famous actor. But probably not.

OK. So, let's see.

• The credits on the sheet music are "Geo. H. Sanders" so that doesn't prove anything either way.
• George Sanders's article (he is George Henry Sanders) says "George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor, author, music composer and singer-songwriter". (Or it did until now cos I took out everything except "actor" as unsupported).
• The main article doesn't say much about the composing, but it does say he played piano and has "In 1958, Sanders recorded an album... including 'Such is My Love', a song he had himself composed." So he did write songs or anyway a song.
• George Henry Sanders was born in 1906, so he would have been 33 when the song was composed, which is reasonable.
• I can't find anything whatsoever on google on any "George Harold Sanders" specifically. There is a lot on "George H. Sanders" tho which could be George Harold Sanders or George Henry Sanders.
• Here is some people speculating a forum. OK a forum, but they seem to be music buffs. They can't find anything either way.
• A number of sources do think that George Henry Sanders the actor wrote the song. Here, Discogs (clearly talking about George Henry Sanders the actor) says "Sanders also wrote or co-wrote a number of songs over the years, including "The Chatterbox" (1927), "Rush Hours" (1928), "Haste" (1929), "I'm A Little Teapot" (with Clarence Kelley), "They Say It's Gonna Rain" (with Kerry Delius), "I'm Falling For You" (with Clarence Williams and Joe Trafalgar Hubert), "Minaret" (with Clarence Kelley), "All Alone And Lonely" (with W. Schwartz and Al Pearson, 1941). We do have a template for reffing {{|tl|discogs}}, and it's not wiki or anything. Still, I don't know how good their fact-checking really is. I doubt that the Discogs writer just made all that up, but she could easily have misunderstood which George H. Sanders she was writing about. Some site called Second Hand Songs also has Sanders the actor as writing the teapot song. They may be mirroring, I don't know.

So hmmm...

But then here is the Library of Congress. That page and all subpages just have "George H. Sanders" and no bio info, but here is [WorldCat], the full album name is "Ascher's dance routine music album : a collection of well known melodies especially arr. for students of the dance as musical settings for the popular dance routines as used by the foremost dancing schools and professional dancers" which definitely doesn't sound like something George Sanders the actor would be doing. Oh wait, here is WorldCat again with the composing timeline for "George H. Sanders" as starting in 1921. George Sanders the actor would have been only fifteen then. There definitely was another musical George H. Sanders, an older contemporary of the actor.

Here is the DAHC (Discography of American Historical Recordings], run by UCSB and others, looks legit. They have a lot of info, but I mostly can't understand the format, and everything they have is under "George H. Sanders" which doesn't much help. There is something called a "Virtual International Authority File" whatever that is, but again, no help.

Britannica's article on the actor Sanders has nothing whatsoever about music or composing. Ditto FindAGrave, which is a wiki, but still, somebody took the time to write some paragraphs and there's nothing about music or composing.

And I mean after all "Harold" and "Henry" are different names. You could get them confused I guess, but still. And I mean you'd think that somewhere, somewhere", google would find something like "Fun Trivia Fact: George Sanders the actor wrote 'I'm a Little Teapot'" if it was true.

Oh, here's a book called "Reflections on a teapot: The personal history of a time" by a legit writer named Ronald Sanders (no relation). I don't know what the book is about, but the tiny peek they give you here has someone saying "There was a George Sanders, the film actor, and I was disappointed when it became clear that it was not the George Sanders". No indication whatosever that "it" was "composing of I'm A Little Teapot", but the song is listed in the index for some reason. However, this article uses that book as a ref to state "The song was originally written by George Harold Sanders and Clarence Z. Kelley and published in 1939". I can't read that part so I can't vet it, but... I'm figuring that the portion I can read is referring to authorship of the teapot song.

That's just one guy (books aren't usually fact-checked) and one source, but the vibe I get is that maybe it's a better source than Discogs. Could be wrong, but my guess is that the actor George Sanders didn't write the teapot song. Not a 100% slam dunk tho. Herostratus (talk) 03:53, 26 August 2021 (UTC)