Vincent Millie Youmans was born in New York City on September 27, 1898 and grew-up on Central Park West on the site where the Mayflower Hotel once stood. His father, a prosperous hat manufacturer, moved the family to upper-class Larchmont, New York. Youmans attended the Trinity School in Mamaroneck, NY and Heathcote Hall in Rye, New York. Originally, his ambition was to become an engineer and attended Yale for a short time. He dropped out to become a runner for a Wall Street brokerage firm before he was drafted to fight in World War I. He took an interest in the theatre when he produced troop shows for the Navy. After the war, he was a Tin Pan Alley song plugger for the TB Harms Company and then as a rehearsal pianist for famed composer Victor Herbert’s operettas.
No, No, Nanette was the biggest musical-comedy success of the 1920s in both Europe and the USA and his two songs "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy" are considered standards. From 1927, Youmans also produced his own shows. He had another major success with Hit the Deck! (1927; including ‘Hallelujah’), but his subsequent productions were failures, though many of their songs remain popular. His last contributions to Broadway were some songs for Take a Chance (1932).
Youmans collaborated with the greatest songwriters on Broadway: Herbert Stothart, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Irving Caesar, Anne Caldwell, Leo Robin, Clifford Grey, Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu, Edward Heyman, Harold Adamson, Mack Gordon, Buddy De Sylva and Gus Kahn. He collaborated with lyricist Ira Gershwin on the score for Two Little Girls in Blue, which won wide acclaim. His next show, with lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II, was Wildflower. His most enduring success, however, was No, No, Nanette, with lyrics by Irving Caesar.
Youmans’s early songs are remarkable for their economy of melodic material: two-, three- or four-note phrases are constantly repeated and varied by subtle harmonic or rhythmic changes. In later years, however, apparently influenced by Jerome Kern, he turned to longer musical sentences and more free-flowing melodic lines.
Youmans was forced to retire in 1934, after a professional career of only 13 years, only returning to Broadway to mount the ill-fated extravaganza The Vincent Youmans Ballet Revue (1943), an ambitious mix of Latin-American and classical music, including Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe. Choreographed by Leonide Massine, it lost some $4 million. More than any of his contemporaries, he made constant re-use of a limited number of melodies; he published fewer than 100 songs, but 18 of these were considered standards by ASCAP.
He died of tuberculosis in Denver, Colorado. At his death, Youmans left behind a large quantity of unpublished material.
In 1970, Youmans was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
Tea for Two
Vincent Youmans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just tea for two and two for tea,
Just me for you
And you for me alone.
Nobody near us
To see us or hear us,
No friends or relations
We won't have it known, dear,
That we own a telephone, dear;
Day will break and you'll awake
And start to bake a sugar cake,
For me to take
For all the boys to see.
We will raise a family,
A boy for you, a girl for me.
Oh, can't you see
How happy we would be?
The lyrics to Vincent Youmans's song Tea For Two paint a vivid picture of a romantic and intimate setting between two people who are deeply in love. The first verse describes the image of sitting knee-to-knee, sharing tea and a moment of blissful togetherness. The second verse emphasizes the intimacy of being alone without any witnesses to their love, creating a sense of privacy and devotion that is unique to the couple. The lyrics also suggest that they want to keep their love discreet, even going so far as to not own a telephone.
The following verse paints a picture of domestic bliss, with the woman waking early to bake a cake for her beloved. The final verse expresses the couple's desire to start a family, with a boy for the woman and a girl for the man. The lyrics evoke an idyllic and sentimental view of love, where the couple is the focal point of each other's lives, bound together by their affections.
Overall, Tea For Two is a timeless classic that has been covered by numerous artists throughout the years. Its captivating melody combined with the nostalgic and romantic lyrics have made it a beloved classic in the realm of love songs.
Line by Line Meaning
Picture you upon my knee,
Imagine you sitting on my lap,
Just tea for two and two for tea,
Just the two of us having tea together,
Just me for you
I am yours and you are mine,
And you for me alone.
And we belong only to each other.
Nobody near us
There is no one else around,
To see us or hear us,
No one to observe or overhear us,
No friends or relations
There are no friends or family members,
On weekend vacations.
Who would come and visit during weekend getaways.
We won't have it known, dear,
Let's keep it a secret, my love,
That we own a telephone, dear;
That we have a telephone and where we live.
Day will break and you'll awake
When the morning comes and you'll get up,
And start to bake a sugar cake,
And begin making a sweet cake,
For me to take
For me to enjoy,
For all the boys to see.
That all of our friends will admire.
We will raise a family,
Together we will start a family,
A boy for you, a girl for me.
You will have a son and I will have a daughter,
Oh, can't you see
Don't you already envision,
How happy we would be?
How much joy we will experience?
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Irving Caesar, Vincent Youmans
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@justinwilliamson695
The harmonies in this arrangement are awesome.
@PiotrBarcz
Cy Walter was something else, his arrangements were quite a bit more modernistic than ones made by other pianists at the time!
@leopianotuner
This version is grand, tantamount to Ravel "La Valse". It's Interesting as a jazz tune is turned into its Classical rendition. There should be a Tea for Two for dual piano. That should be real fun.
@vivvpprof
In the music school I attended the kids more or less improvised things like this during breaks between classes. The pianos would get out of tune quickly and the headmistress forbade the teachers to leave rooms open during breaks 😁
@Roman-us2fp
Tea for two for…more than two pianos.
@Luciothecommenter
Have you seen the version of Art Tatum?) That one needs 3 then xD
@jessicadu6103
I'm learning it 👌🏻👌🏻👍👍👍👏
@miladakramlova8424
Beauty,...relaxing,...
@Volvograd8000
Holly! best version ihmo
@stevejones6330
Where can I get the sheet music that's displayed in the video?