I'm a little tea pot [S. Worthen | Weblog]

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I realized yesterday that none of the local baby/toddler song groups I've been going to for the last several years has done "I'm a little teapot." And yet I *know* I know at least a couple of UK natives who know it, having heard them use it before.

[Poll #2011574]

P.S. There's a missing "have" in that last line.

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There are 35 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Version I know is slightly different: When the water's boiling, hear me shout, Tip me up and pour me out.

Me too. "When the kettle's boiling, hear me shout, tip me up and pour me out."

Though it certainly wasn't one of my childhood rhymes (I don't rememeber it on 'Singing Together' or 'Listen with Mother') I have a vague feeling I came across it as a US import.

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"When the kettle's boiling..." Yes, that was the version I knew too.

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Yep, same here. Also as Mike points out "here's" rather than "here is"

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This one.

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me too

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"Here's my handle, here's my spout", not "Here is", which doesn't scan as well.

I grew up with "here is" and it scans better to my ear.

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ditto

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ditto

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I grew up with "When the water's steamed up / Then I shout."

A friend of my dad's generation, a big backwoodsman with a bushy beard who lives in a hit in the forest, won a talent competition as a boy with the following act.

'I'm a little teapot, short and stout, here's my handle, *places hand on hip*, here's my...*places other hand on hip*...handle?'

*looks confused*

'I'm a little teapot, short and stout, here's my handle, *places hand on hip*, here's my...*places other hand on hip*...handle?'

*looks even more confused, brow wrinkles*

*begins again full of joviality, determined to succeed*

'I'm a little teapot, short and stout, here's my handle, *places hand on hip*, here's my...Dammit, I'm a sugarbowl!'

hahaha! My mom always does the 'sugarbowl' variation too.

And, I cannot for the life of me remember what lyrics I learned instead of 'when I get all steamed up,' but I'm sure that's not what the line was...

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I keep thinking this, but when I try to remember how the second half goes, I get confused and end up with:

I'm a little teapot
Short and stout
Here's my handle
Here's my spout
something something
something something
Giddy up
We're homeward bound

Which is Not Right.

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"Horsey, horsey, don't you stop" has musical parallels with "Teapot" I had not previously considered!

(Horsey, horsey, don't you stop
Just let your feet go clippety-clop
Your tail goes swish and your wheels go round
Giddy up, we're homeward bound.
Plus more verses and an interlude beyond that.)

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In retrospect this is a very odd rhyme as horses don't usually have wheels (yes I know :-). No wonder I couldn't remember all the words!

Edited Date: 2015-05-20 05:21 pm (UTC)

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A different part of the song makes it clear that the horse is pulling a cart, so it makes sense eventually.

Edited Date: 2015-05-20 05:32 pm (UTC)

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I <3 this joke, you beat me to its repetition ;-)

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Sorry not sorry :-)

For me the best part is how it was told by this grizzled carpenter/oyster farmer in his dusty old cap and foot-long beard and overalls and boots, reliving his 7-year-old talent show self.

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:-D

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I learnt this song from watching Captain Kangaroo! Mr. Green Jeans did it :-)

Strictly speaking I think the verison I knew was

"Then I Shout"
"Just Tip Me Over"

hmm should I go back and change my poll answers?

Edited Date: 2015-05-20 02:07 pm (UTC)

BTW, we always use a teapot in this household, but also teabags because with hard London water putting a teabag in a mug leaves a greasy film on the surface - in the teapot it gets trapped. And one teabag + one pot = two mugs.

The line I know is 'When the kettle whistles' (hear me shout)

Not sure if that was a regional variation - or just a family one as the first kettle I remember at my grandparents was indeed a stove-top whistling one.

When the kettle whistles...tip me up...

Teapots mean more drinks per teabag. This is good.

I know it as "When you hear the whistle, hear me shout, tip me up and pour me out". I hate tea. Oh yes, and (just read the other comments) I know "here's my handle/spout" rather than "here is".

I mostly use a teapot. I sometimes use loose tea, but also I use a pot with teabags because, as

inamac and

gillo said, you get more cups of tea per bag than 1 bag per mug.

This is the version I know as I know it, so long as you stop before the second verse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHZopu0utoU

I don't have good associations with this song because I vaguely remember some teacher asking/making a somewhat chubby girl perform it before the class. Even as a very young kid I knew that that was not a Good Idea.

I should add to my survey answers that my Mom sang this song to me, which she learned from her Mom, who was from the UK. So if there's an alternate US-version, I'm unfamiliar with it.

When it comes to tea-time
Hear me shout
Tip me up
And pour me out!

I don't remember lines 5 & 6, but definitely 7 was "Tip me up", not "over". A tipped-over teapot is a calamity, spilling everywhere and probably breaking the lid.

I have had teapots all my life (and broken many lids); most of my life, I've had more than one. And used them daily, for different kinds of tea. (I like them colour-coded: black, green and white, for the three kinds of tea that I acknowledge.)

On the other hand, despite my clicking on that answer, I didn't really grow up with this song. It wasn't in our family repertoire. But I did grow up with a kid sister, who did go to ballet classes; she brought it home, complete with movements. We didn't adopt it (she was the youngest; of course we scorned her childish verses), but it stuck in my mind regardless.

The last section for me was something like

When you see the teacups
Hear me shout
Tip me up
And pour me out!

And we also sang 'Here's my handle...' not 'Here is my handle...'

That's the version I know too.

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I also grew up with:" When I see the teacups, hear me shout, tip me up and pour me out"

Edited Date: 2015-05-21 05:41 pm (UTC)

There was a commercial when I was a little kid that had a version of this song whose lyrics were changed to be about whatever the product was -- I think it may have been a new improved tea bag, but some half-assed Googling isn't turning it up. Anyway, the jingle ended, "Dip me in, rich flavour pours out" and even THEN I was irritated at the bad scansion.

October