I enjoy hearing rock ‘n roll songs mentioning specific blends of tea. Such references always bring a smile to my face, in part for reminding me of The Rutles and in part for reminding me of a Rutles-inspired band in which I once played. We got a lot of mileage out of tea references, probably too much – and for that reason I’ll refrain from suggesting any songs I was involved in writing and performing with this long-forgotten side project.
Driving to work this morning I turned up the volume on a favorite late-’60s anthem, of sorts, only to hear a specific blend of tea reference that I’d never noticed before. I wqn’t tell you what song it was now, and I’ll only play that card if no one else lists it and I see a chance to win this whole ball of wax. Who among us will be the last man (or woman, it goes without saying) standing to list a rock ‘n roll song mentioning a specific blend of tea? Remember, it’s got to be a rock ‘n roll (or closely related) song (ie, no pre-rock ‘n roll Noel Coward number) and it’s got to cite a specific blend of tea. For instance, this legendary tea anthem, The Kinks‘ “Have a Cuppa Tea,” does NOT qualify because it does not cite a specific blend of tea. I checked to see whether “Rosie Lea” was a blend, but it turns out it’s Cockney rhyming slang for “tea.”
c3rxNCzzJpY]
Because there may be so few options in this Last Man Standing competition, I’ll leave it to you to kick off the opening salvo!
Penny Royal Tea perhaps?
Well played! Can anyone top ramone666?
Supergrass- Whisky and Green Tea
Excellent, mockcarr. This LMS may go on longer than I’d expected!
In case anyone’s wondering, the specific tea blend citation does not need to be in the title of the song – it can be in the lyrics. Please quote the lyric, if that’s what you’re submitting. Thanks.
I’m trying to figure out if the band Pinhead Gunpowder references itself in a song…
But, until that point, I’m going with Vampire Weekend:
“Occident out on the weekend
That’s the way that we relax
English Breakfast tastes like Darjeeling
But she’s too cute to even ask” from One
Also, The Rolling Stones’ “Let It Bleed”
“I was dreaming of a steel guitar engagement/
When you drank my health in scented Jasmine Tea”
bostonhistorian has nailed the somewhat anthemic song I heard this morning that led to this LMS!
Nirvana has a song called Pennyroyal Tea. I assume that’s a brand.
Already taken, chick. That was our first entry.
This is shaping up to be a tough one. I’m sitting on one answer. I don’t know about the rest of you.
I can’t believe no one else has thought of “All Oolong the Watchtower.” You guys are stupid.
Does “Afternoon Tea” qualify as a specific blend?
I’m sitting on one as well, probably the same as yours Mr. Mod.
“A little Sleepy Time tea
Spiked with a little heartache.”
One Wink At A Time – the Replacements
It wasn’t that Replacements song you were sitting on, was it, bostonhistorian?
No sir.
And of course the anthemic Peter Gabriel classic, ‘Pekoe.’
Fleetwood Mac’s “Earl Grey”
Does “texas tea” in the Beverly Hillbillies Theme count?
Great song by the Kinks! Leonard Cohen – “she feeds me tea and oranges that come all the way from China…”
And not forgtting Morrissey, Everyday is Like Sunday: “Shared some greased tea with me”.
Yum!
The judges – who are HUGE Beverly Hillbillies fans, it should be mentioned – will accept “Texas Tea!”
OK, so mikeydread comes up with a good one, assuming that “greased tea” is a specific blend. (The “Suzanne” reference, on the other hand, lacked specificity – sorry.)
mikeydread WAS Last Man Standing…until now:
The Move’s “Chinatown”: “Maybe I’ll drink your jasmine tea then I’ll hurry home.”
LMS!
It’s a good thing you threw in that Move song, Mod, because it saves me the time of calling bullshit on the Beverly Hillbillies theme song.
Hey, I used a real song, then followed it up with a technical question
Still, I offer Ike and Tina Turner’s “Black Coffee”,
Well you hear that some black tea
Well it can’t compare with me
Black tea can’t compare with me…
Paul Simon, “Spirit Voice”
“My hands are numb
My feet were lead
I drank a cup of herbal brew”
Paul McCartney, English Tea
Sly Stone – Don’t Call Me Nigger, White Tea.
Tea for the Tillerman, Cat Stevens.
LMS?
Speaking of Have A Cuppa Tea, I noted this upcoming show on the schedule of the Iron Horse in Northampton MA: “Nearly 40 years on, The Kinks’ Muswell Hillbillies is still regarded by many as songwriter Ray Davies’ finest work and one of the most enduring of all cult classics. Faithfully executing the likes of “20th Century Man,” “Holiday,” and “Skin and Bone”—as well as an “extras” list of additional Kinks cuts—is this all-ages “kollective” that includes guitarists Dave Simons and Bill Howard, journalist/drummer David Sokol, pianist Dave Skelly (Pop Party Opera), and bassist Jack Simons, along with a five-piece horn section featuring members of Hopkins Academy’s jazz ensemble. Performing the entire album, as well as such Kinks nuggets as “Victoria” and “Waterloo Sunset,” the band debuts in April as part of the Independent Film Festival Boston premiere of Do It Again, a documentary about one man’s effort to reunite the Kinks, created by Boston Globe writer Geoff Edgers.”
As I’ve mentioned here before, I’ve been a Kinks fan since I bought Arthur (at the time of its release) and the first rock & roll show I saw was The Kinks at the Spectrum in 1971.
So what does it day about me and/or Raymond Douglas that this show holds more interest for me than Ray Davies who played in Hartford 10 minutes from me last month and I never gave any consideration to going to it?
“Beautiful World” by Colin Hay mentions two kinds of tea – Irish Tea and Lapsang Souchong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvu_iYOiIuo
And with that, I think I’m out…
Impossible Years guy Todd Shuster had a song called “Chamomile Tea” on his fab solo disc My Report Card.
Excellent, noonetwisting! I’ve got that album – it was pretty good! The Impossible Years’ drummer, Seth, was one of my Philly scene big brothers, showing me the ropes way back when.