Trivial Pursuit #97

Hmmm, tap dancers eh?

Then I'd have to say "Tea for Two".

Updated On: 4/3/05 at 09:34 PM

Hehe, I own this movie!

Drum roll...Doris Day!

"Tea for Two":

I'm discontented with homes
That are rented
So I have invented
My own

Darling this place is a lover's oasis
Where life's weary chase
Is unknown

Far from the cry of the city
Where flowers pretty
Caress the streams
Cozy to hide in
To love side-by-side in
Don't let it abide in my dreams

Picture you upon my knee
Just tea for two and two for tea
Just me for you and you for me
Alone!

Nobody near us
To see us or hear us
No friends or relations on weekend vacations
We won't have it known, dear
That we have a telephone, dear

Day will break
And you'll awake
And start to bake
A sugar cake
For me to take for all the boys to see!

We will raise a family
A boy for you
A girl for me
Oh, can't you see how happy life would be?

You are revealing a plan so appealing
I can't help but felling
For you

Darling, I planned it
can't you understand it
Its yours to command it
So do

All of your schemes I'm admiring
They're worth desiring
But can't you see

I'd like to wait there
For some future date dear
it won't be too late, dear
For me

Picture you upon my knee
Just tea for two and two for tea
Just me for you and you for me, alone!

Nobody near us
To see us or hear us
No friends or relations on weekend vacations
We won't have it known, dear,
That we have a telephone, dear.

Day will break
And you'll awake
And start to bake
A sugar cake
For me to take
For all the boys to see

We will raise a family
A boy for you, a girl for me
Oh, can't you see how happy life would be?


Music: Vincent Youmans
Lyrics: Irving Caesar



Copyright © ASCAP. All rights reserved.

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And tell me, Mary_Ethel, how long did it take Youmans to write the music for this classic song?

Paraodx--Youmans and Caesar completed writing "Tea for Two" in about thirty minutes--they wrote it at a piano in a Hotel in the city in qhich NO, NO, NANETTE was currently trying out--I believe it was Detroit.

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I think what's interestng to note that the Lyric Caesar initialy wrote was what they called a "Dummy" or "Demonstration" Lyric--just something to show to the show's profucer, Harry Frazee.


As Caesar himself said, "How can they be having tea if the girl is sitting on the guy's KNEE?"


But Frazee ADORED the song and wouldn't let them change one NOTE or LYRIC--and the "dummy" lyrics have survived to this very day!!!

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Oh, Paradox, if only 90% of those who post on The Main Board shared that sentiment...

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I tried to be a tap dancer...but I kept falling into the sink!

I love the song. I sang it, 8 show per week, for 7 months. Of course, it's a ballad in the show. It became a popular instrumental as a cha cha!

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i have also felt the lyrics to "Somewhere" and "One Hand, One Heart" were not up to the typical Sondheim high standard, but i could be wrong.

And there are quite a few anecdotes that "The Merm" froze some GYPSY lyrics before Sondheim thought them finished. Strangely, however, the anecdote of "call me Mrs. Birdseye" has been attributed to GYPSY when some records indicate the remark happened on CALL ME MADAM (a Berlin show).

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