"Tea for Two" is a 1924 song composed by Vincent Youmans, with lyrics by Irving Caesar.[4][5] It was introduced in May 1924 by Phyllis Cleveland and John Barker during the Chicago pre-Broadway run of the musical No, No, Nanette.[6][4] When the show finally hit Broadway on September 16, 1925, Nanette was played by Louise Groody, and her duet with Barker of "Tea for Two" was a hit. The song went on to become the biggest success of Youmans's career.[7]
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.[8][4]
It has been proposed, with little supporting evidence, that 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 (three pence) to tuppence (two pence). While this may be the case, 'tea for two' would have been a commonplace order for a couple in 19th-century English cafeterias.[9][10]
Musical characteristics
The melody is rhythmically repetitive and is described as simple yet charming.[11][12] The song is originally in the key of A♭ major and starts with the verse, which is followed by the refrain.
The refrain has an A1-A2-A3-B form, a range of just over an octave, and major tonalities.[11][12] The melody of the "A1", "A3", and "B" sections uses an alternating pattern of dotted quarter notes and eighth notes.[12] The melody and harmony of the "A2" section is almost a copy of the "A1" section, but is transposed up a major third and uses a slightly embellished rhythm for the melody. The "A2" section ends by modulating back to the original key using an E♭whole note over an E♭7, the dominant chord of the original key.[12] The melody and harmony of the "A3" section is a copy of the "A1" section, but ends on a different pitch and transitions to the "B" section using a iiø–V7–i. The first half of the melody of the "B" section uses two falling phrase segments with the same rhythm as the "A1" melody. The second half of the "B" section is the same as the second half of the "A1" section, but its melody ends on the root of the tonic chord instead of on its third.
January 1925 (1925-01): Marion Harris's rendition reaches number one on the US Billboard chart and stays there for 11 weeks.[13][9]
1939 (1939): Art Tatum's rendition, for which he posthumously received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, hits number eighteen on the US Billboard chart and stays there for a week.[13][9]
September 1958 (1958-09): 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 charts from the Toronto radio station 'CHUM' and stays there for thirteen weeks.[13][9]
October 1958 (1958-10): Tommy Dorsey's rendition reaches number three on the UK Singles chart and stays there nineteen weeks.[13][9]
Adaptations and notable covers
In 1926, Boris Fomin arranged it for inclusion in his operetta "The Career of Pierpont Blake" (Карьера Пирпойнта Блэка), with Russian lyrics by Konstantin Podrevsky, under the title "Tahiti Trot".[14]
In 1927, Dmitri Shostakovich arranged "Tea for Two", known in the Soviet Union as Tahiti Trot, from memory after conductor Nicolai Malko bet him he could not do it in under an hour. He completed the orchestration in 45 minutes.
In the French–British WWII-set comedy film La Grande Vadrouille (1966) the humming of the "Tea for Two" melody is the secret code for the British bomber crew members to recognise each other in the Turkish baths at the Grand Mosque of Paris.
Occasionally on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, if a joke bombed during his monologue, the band would play "Tea for Two" and Carson would do a short soft shoe dance, which always got a laugh from the studio audience.
The pianist Yuja Wang will play "Tea For Two" as an encore, after, for example, playing all four Rachmaninov piano concertos at a concert.
