Tea For Two Cha Cha

Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“Tea for Two” is a song composed by Vincent Youmans with lyrics by Irving Caesar and written in 1924. It was introduced by Louise Groody and John Barker in the Broadway musical No, No, Nanette. “Tea for Two” was Youmans’ biggest hit.

Background

Youmans had written the basic melody idea of “Tea for Two” while he was in the navy during World War I, and he used it later on as an introductory passage for a song called “Who’s Who With You?” While in Chicago, Youmans developed the idea into “a song that the hero could sing to the heroine” for the musical No, No, Nanette. He soon after played his composition for Irving Caesar and insisted he write the lyrics then and there. Caesar quickly jotted down a mock-up lyric, fully intending to revise it later on. Youmans, though, loved the mock-up and convinced Caesar it was just right for the melody.

The phrase ‘Tea for Two’ was originally shouted by hawkers on the streets of 18th century England who wanted to attract business by lowering the price of a pot of tea from thruppence to tuppence. […]

Notable recordings

January 1925: The Benson Orchestra of Chicago’s instrumental rendition reaches number five on the US Billboard chart and stays there for five weeks

January 1925: Marion Harris’s rendition reaches number one on the US Billboard chart and stays there for 11 weeks

1939: Art Tatum’s rendition hits number eighteen on the US Billboard chart and stays there for a week

September 1958: Tommy Dorsey’s rendition reaches number seven on the US Billboard chart and stays there for twenty weeks and number five on the weekly top 50 chart from the Toronto radio station ‘CHUM’ and stays there for thirteen weeks

October 1958: Tommy Dorsey’s rendition reaches number three on the UK Singles chart and stays there nineteen weeks […]

On the second day of the “Get Back” sessions (January 3rd, 1969), Paul McCartney noodled on the piano and played “Tea For Two“, waiting for John Lennon and George Harrison to arrive in the studio.

Last updated on December 13, 2021