I'm a little tea pot

[owlfish]

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 Tea pot

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

Comments

[despotliz]

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

[inamac]

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.

[heleninwales]

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

[hawkida]

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

[drplokta]

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

[vschanoes]

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

[kekhmet]

ditto

[klwilliams]

ditto

[vschanoes]

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

[khalinche]

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!'

[ladybird97]

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...

[ceb]

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.

[owlfish]

"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.)

[kekhmet]

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?