Tea for Two (song)

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"Tea for Two" is a song from the 1925 musical No, No, Nanette with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Irving Caesar . The song is sung from the viewpoint of a lovestruck man, who plans the future with his new woman in mind.

The story may be apocryphal, but Irving Caesar indicated on Steve Allen's radio show that the lyrics were intended to be temporary. Hoyt Axton later did much the same thing with the "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" part of "Joy to the World (Hoyt Axton song)".

"Tea for Two" became a jazz standard and was recorded by numerous bands and instrumentalists. One famous interpretation of the song is Tommy Dorsey's cha-cha-cha version, re-popularized in 2005 by adverts for McVitie's biscuits. Another notable recording was made by Art Tatum in 1939.

The song has become a reliable standby for performers who call for soft shoe bits.

The song was also orchestrated by Dimitri Shostakovich in 1928 under the title "Tahiti-Trot". Conductor Nikolai Malko bet Shostakovich 100 rubles that he couldn't orchestrate the song after having heard it just once on a record. Shostakovich won the bet by doing the orchestration successfully in under 45 minutes. The song was also sung by Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale, in the documentary film Grey Gardens.

"Tea for Two" was used as a code by English paratroopers shot down over Paris in the French film La Grande Vadrouille.