My missus just brought me tea in bed, which reminded me of this song. The lyric says "Missus, will ya, make me tea? Make love to me. Turn on the telly, to the BBC!". This mentions 4 things I really like in just a couple of lines. The band Ming Tea also predicted the ever increasing number of BBC channels way before they happened. Although, when will we see BBC7, I wonder? I was going to extend this post to mention my all time top five songs that mention tea, but I have to get up now, so here's a few and I'll try and finish it off later: 1. "Make a cup of tea, put a record on" - Elastica, "Waking Up"
2. "Cup of tea, and a masterplan" - Down The Tiny Steps "Summer is for going places" 3. "Missus, will ya, make me tea?" - Ming Tea "BBC"
4. "Your words they flatter me, you fill my head with tea" - Ride "Making Judy Smile"
5.
Any tea songs you like? Anyone not like tea? I love tea, tea is amazing.
Well, duh, Shack - Cup Of Tea. A huge DsD fave.
ReplyDeleteBut that's as close as I get, I do not now, and have not ever, drink tea. Oh I've tried and tried with different forms, but I had a moment of epiphany at 22y.o.: hey, I'm an adult, if I don't like it, don't have it!
Simple.
Time for another coffee, I think.
;o)
Mixed tenses? Hmmm, maybe I should make the next one de-caff ...
ReplyDeleteMy friends run tea and records in Luneburg, Germany. (it has a proper name.. but guess what they sell!)
ReplyDeleteAny way, above the shop they run their own label 'Alison Records'
sounds like you should have shares.
gratuitous advert:
http://www.tea-and-records.de/
I am going on holiday in about a minute, but we do have a certain toing and froing of tea and song cycles:
Littlest Things Lily Allen
Cold Tea Blues Cowboy Junkies
The Coffee And Tea Wrecks The Dandy Warhols
The Stolen Child The Waterboys
Tea & Beer (Freestyle) (Featuring Jean Grae) The Herbaliser Feat. Jean Grae
Cup Of Tea Sage Francis
Bitter Tea The Fiery Furnaces
Fill Up Ma Portion Toddla T
all her favorite fruit Camper Van Beethoven
Waking Up Elastica
I Will Survive Art Brut
Albion Babyshambles
Tea Brendan Benson
Invisible Modest Mouse
Earl Grey with honey Loveninjas
Suzanne Leonard Cohen
Those To Come The Shins
Autumn Almanac The Kinks
Gray Stables Iron & Wine
The Happy Song The Aliens
Riverbed, Pt. 7 Buck 65
Mad Man Song Cibelle & Spleen
Battersea The Accidental
Shore To Shore Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit
Katie's Tea Camille
Medicine Bottle Red House Painters
The Boys And Girls Her Space Holiday
Come On Over to My House Grand Duchy
don't know if songs done by Nirvana or Shack are strictly about tea drinking!
oh man.. how do you do bold on this thing.. any way.. I think early on in RR we got distracted and did cups of tea detour, I always wanted to do a playlist on here, but not near my music so will have to wait for another tea break.
Even ust from relatively mainstream stuff:
ReplyDeleteRockwell - Somebody's Watching Me
I can't enjoy my tea ....
Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday
Share some greased tea with me...
Rolling Stones, The - Let It Bleed
When you drank my health in scented jasmine tea....
Ramones - Bonzo Goes To Bitburg
Bonzo goes to Bitburg then out for a cup of tea....
Clash - Lost In The Supermarket
I save coupons from packets of tea...
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
And she feeds you tea and oranges...
Kinks
- A Well Respected Man
And she stirs the tea with councilors...
- Superman
I had a cigarette and a cup of tea. Looked in the mirror what did I see...
- Dead End Street
Boil the tea and put some toast on...
- Village Green
And we'll sip tea and laugh...
Regina Spektor - Be Like a Cloud
I tried to cry but couldn't...So instead I made myself a cup of tea...
Dido - Stan
My tea's gone cold ....
Sex Pistols - Streets of London
Each tea last an hour then he wanders home alone...
Pink Floyd - Us & Them
for want of the price of tea and a slice ....
Lily Allen - Chinese
You'll make me beans on toast and a nice cup of tea... (I googled for this one. I figured the twitter songstress covers every other mundane facet of life, so boiling a kettle had to be right in her comfort zone.) And she has more, should sleep difficulties ever strike your home.
...I think you've just used up what could have been a great RR topic.
Man I love tea. As red as you can make it. No sugar. Ideally it will stain the mug from leaving the bag in so long.
ReplyDeleteThe wife drinks grey tea with so much milk and so little tea that I can barely see the point. Still, takes all sorts.
Not much to add to the impeccable brews above, other than to mention Frightened Rabbit's brilliant The Earl Greys.
Ding.
Lots of Hatfield & The North/Caravan stuff about tea. I think Richard Sinclair was a big fan of all sorts of herbal concoctions!
ReplyDeleteBloody hell, I love tea but all I could think of was various jazz versions of Tea for Two.
ReplyDeleteI love tea!! And I'm almost out.
ReplyDeleteBelle and Sebastian have For the Price of a Cup of Tea, but they must have others about tea drinking that don't have tea in the title. I have Django Reinhardt doing Tea for Two.
massive donds for tea!! I love all kinds; English tea, Jasmine, Oolong, green tea, chai etc
ReplyDeleteBUT, I have NEVER, not even once, had a cup of that vile poison they call coffee. I despise everything about it, from the taste to the smell to the wanky culture of double-caramel-frappacino-latte-reverse-pike -grande-bollocks. ah...sorry, I was ranting....thinking about coffee does that to me...
erm...tea songs.... MC Pitman has got a great line about the ponciness of coffee shops and about just having a simple cup of tea, but I can't remember it....
The Kinks - "...pour the tea and put some toast on..."
sounds like you need a cup of my Java, Japanther.. ;-)
ReplyDelete...and I was just putting the kettle on. Tea for The Tillerman?
ReplyDeleteJapanther - I'm envious. My parents thought it was a BRILLIANT idea to give me copious quantities of freshly ground black coffee, at least a pint a day, from the age of 3 and a half. Mad me the woman I am today. Wish they'd given me water!
OK, Cauliflower- looks like you need a cup of my Java, too.. anyone else?
ReplyDeleteOur favourite tea at the moment is either Darjeeling Earl Grey or something called Sunrise, it's green with numerous things added.. no idea what though.. I'll look at the packet when I get home..
Mr. Scruff's original label was called "a cup of tea", and in fact he is the only DJ I know of who brings out his own tea.. haven't tried it, though.
Cheers m'dear. Can I have fluffy milk?
ReplyDeleteThe only tea that works in the East End, with the diabolical water (sent straight up from the bowels of Bazalgettian hell, is Fair Trade English Breakfast. And even then, you have to wait long enough for the chemistry to happen, when it goes from transparent to opaque. Hard stuff.
@japanther - those are my exact thoughts about coffee also! it's like you read my mind!
ReplyDeleteFluffy milk?! I don't think it would like sitting on my Java.. I explained the recipe a week or two ago to DarceysDad, it would have melted his iron teeth..
ReplyDeleteI'll do you a nice espresso macchiato if you like, though..
OK, Blimpy- Java's nearly finished brewing.. (don't forget to grit your teeth as it goes down)
ReplyDeleteHow do Belle and Sebatian take their tea? With tigermilk of course!
ReplyDeleteCoffee's not for me either, I tried it a coupe of times, under duress, the last time I didi was part of an exam cocktail that included berocca, pro plus, red bull, the black stuff, and vitamin C, it was a strange time for me.
ReplyDeleteTea is OK I guess, my favourite is cold Oolong tea.
Song wise, there's Camille's Katie's Tea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0A4-6k12gE
It's gotta be PG Tips, by the way, nothing else is good enough!
ReplyDeleteI've ended up with a curiously conformist attitude to hot drinks: morning coffee and afternoon tea. I need a couple of freshly-brewed coffees to get the day up and running but, from lunch onwards, I only like tea. Used to be plain old PG Tips but now it's a bag of Typhoo and a bag of Earl Grey brewed together in a teapot (but for too long). Refreshing and tasty!
ReplyDeleteI quite like the other type of tea, alluded to above, as well....
This is turning into coffeehaters anonymous.. except you're not anonymous.. well, I suppose you are.. you know what I mean..
ReplyDeleteAnyone who wants to conquer their coffphobia is welcome to pop by for a lovingly hand-pulled cup of black gold, with or without fluffy milk and a heart shaped sprinkle of cocoa on top..
er.. '(but not for too long)' makes more sense.
ReplyDeleteAl Stewart - "I'm Falling"
ReplyDelete"Get up, put the kettle on, make us some tea
I'm falling
If we've got some biscuits left, please bring one for me,
I'm just falling
Spending the whole day in bed
Wasting our time
In such a gentle way
We hardly need to say a word, it's just okay..."
Finding the right coffee is important as there is such a variation in strength and flavour. You could decide that you don't like tea after having tried Earl Grey, Lapsang, Green, Jasmine, etc etc but you may like builders' tea.
ReplyDeleteI tried many coffees when I first plunged into the world of ground beans until I found my 'baby bear' variety: the Co-op's Fairtrade Italian.
For years, living over here I didn't bother with tea much but I'd drink it when visiting UK. Decent English tea was expensive but I'd usually keep some around and drink it occasionally. And then one day I went into an Indian supermarket in LA and saw these large 5lb plastic bags of 'Export' grade tea, specifically for the expat Indian market, I bought one. Wonderful tea with a unique and distinct taste, in the Typhoo league but ton's better, plus it doesn't have tea leaves as we remember them, it had instead tiny pellets of tea. I've been buying it in bulk now for years and I drink two large cups every day, morning and afternoon.
ReplyDeleteLast week my American wife who's been off coffee for years, she brews her version of chai, mentioned that she'd started making cups of tea, I asked her how she did it and suggested that 11/2 teaspoons of tea per cup was a bit much, she should try about half that. She came back later and said she had and it was absolutely wonderful, a vast improvement. That's what we're here for in the colonies, to educate the natives.
Re. coffee, I make very strong, powder grind, French roast in one of those glass plunger thingies, one mug with some sugar. I used to make Turkish coffee as an after dinner treat, VERY strong coffee boiled with a lot of sugar, strain and decant into small cups and onto the surface using a teaspoon to prevent mixing add about 2 tablespoons of very thick whipping cream. You drink the coffee THROUGH the cream, lovely!
I'm not alone!! I thought I was the only person in the world with such a wanton disregard for the black stuff.
ReplyDeleteJasmine is my fave tea for the summer months. From early spring to late autumn there's always a cold carafe of Jasmine-cha in the Japanther fridge!
Jasmine's essential with chinese food, I find.. Sunrise turns out to be green flavoured with added rose blossoms, sunflower and cornflower blossoms. Now I'm off for a nice cup of Ceylon.
ReplyDeleteSad tale about a North American Indian who sat up late drinking cup after cup of tea. Sometime during the night he drowned in his tea pee.
ReplyDeleteI LaughedOutLoud at that one.
ReplyDelete@ Japanther - can I join your anti-Coffee Society - I can't stand the stuff. I'm not actually a big tea lover either - just the occasional cup of English Breakfast for social purposes but that's about it.
ReplyDeleteSongs about Tea - you see, blimpy, this is why you should be the RR guru - I mean Towns v. Tea - no choice.
The Fortunes - Storm In A Teacup
Belle & Sebastian - For The Price Of A Cup Of Tea
The Proclaimers - Lulu Selling Tea
Shack - Cup Of Tea
As I'm sure we all remember from the Land Of Grey And Pink 'incident', our heroes went to sea drinking tea and after leaving Caravan and forming Hatfield & The North, the genius that is Richard Sinclair along with Hatfield's drummer and lyricist Pip Pyle continued their interest in tea.
In Licks For The Ladies we discover the following, somewhat disturbing confessional courtesy of Mr Pyle:
I'd feel better, somewhat wetter, drinking tea in the sea,
and dream of you - and your nice black knickers... [really? Ed]
Then in Big Jobs No, 2 (Poo & The Wee Wees) [I'm really not making this up) we hear a tribute to a seriously under acknowledged section of society:
Now through the medium of the Manor Mobile,
I would like to sing this song in the Hatfield style,
And thank all the mothers who made cups of tea -
if they hadn't cared for us, we wouldn't be here
to sing our songs and entertain
Plug us in and turn on the mains!
We have to leave here tonight,
I hope that it will sound all right
But we're trying hard to make it sound nice,
and hope that the music turns you on
while you're drinking your tea
Do have a laugh certainly.
You see, it's important stuff, tea.
In the wonderful Fitter Stoke Has A Bath there's yet another tea-related reference:
But just the same
I'm happy just to sit around at home
with Pamela making cups of tea and washing clothes
Now anyone could easily see
I'm basically a cretin
Finally, in Let's Eat (Real Soon) Pip's at it again:
I'm vitamin-enriched
What's more, I'm absolutely wholesome!
No artificial processing or anything so loathsome!
You'll fancy me at lunch, not to mention tea
I'm easily digested naturally!
OK, this is the meal not the drink
Oops - hadn't quite finished that - didn't mean to post so soon.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to finish by suggesting that we all raise a cup of the finest English to Messrs Pyle and Sinclair - surely the kings of the tea-related song.
I've enjoyed the tea topic more than towns as well ToffeeBoy, but the towns one has certainly been quite popular.
ReplyDeleteCould we not have the best of both worlds and ... guess you know what's coming?
Teaside
Cuppertino
um
er
ah
But then you'd need a song about a 'tea' place.... how 'bout we just forget I logged in.
In Cold Feet Richard Thompson finds tea causing social disaster:
ReplyDeleteYou took me home to tell your dad
That you were the best girl I’ve ever had
I stayed for dinner, I couldn’t refuse
I spilled the tea and I ate the news...
Whereas in Java Jive - best of both worlds:
I love coffee, I love tea
I love the java jive and it loves me.
Coffee and tea and the jivin' and me
A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup.
Like Chris, I drink coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. What's more, while I like my coffee strong and black, I'll just show the teabag to the boiling water. My favourite tea is Twining's green tea with orange and lotus flower.
@shane - the happy song mentions tea and fife - which is where, more often than not, i drink my tea.
ReplyDeleteAnyone here not like tea or coffee?
@ tincanman - The S*n's popular - doesn't mean we have to read it.
ReplyDeleteDuke Of Earl Gray - Gene Chandler
Darjeeling-hurst Nights - The Go-Betweens
China Girl - by gremlinfc's favourite
Anything by Herbal Alpert
How am I doing?
Oooh, tfd, that's a good one:
ReplyDeleteTwining For Gold - The Cowboy Junkies
"Back To Black" - Amy Teahouse
ReplyDelete"1,2,3,4 (Sugars)" - Feist
"Sorted For Teas & Wizz" - Pulp
"Tealeafs of the World Unite" - The Smiths
@ blimpy - Sorted For Teas & Wizz!!! - you win!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHey Dsd, in case you hadn't seen:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rollogrady.com/drive-by-truckers-the-fine-print-september-1st/
Audioweb or Sizzla: Char Love
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ed, I hadn't seen that.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually grumpy about DBT this week, because I don't have ANY chance of getting to see Jason Isbell in Manchester this Sunday.
:o(
And I see that being a coffee-lover/tea-hater makes me as much a social pariah as if I'd owned up to being a necrophiliac, kitten-drowning, CelineDion-loving BNP member!!
I know when I'm not wanted . . .
[sound of distant door closing quietly]
Aren't you supposed to clang the door shut when you have a tantrum? You're not very good at this, are you? I have a young un here could give you lessons.
ReplyDeleteHow about some artists/bands?
ReplyDeleteTea Rex
Ice Tea
.....follows DarceysDad to that distant door...
[sound of distant door closing quietly again]
I pity the fool who can't spot the tea link in this music video
ReplyDeleteBilly Bragg - Levi Stubbs' Teas - from the "Brewing Up With" album, I think.
ReplyDeleteSomeone told me this weekend that there is a worldwide tea shortage.
ReplyDelete