This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Have a Cuppa Tea" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(February 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
1971 song by the Kinks
"Have a Cuppa Tea"
Song by the Kinks
from the album Muswell Hillbillies
Released
24 November 1971 (1971-11-24) (US)
26 November 1971 (UK)
Recorded
August–September 1971
Studio
Morgan, Willesden, London
Genre
Folk rock
music hall
Length
3:45
Label
RCA
Songwriter(s)
Ray Davies
Producer(s)
Ray Davies
"Have a Cuppa Tea" is a song written by Ray Davies and performed by the Kinks on their 1971 album Muswell Hillbillies.
Like many Kinks songs, it is stylistically influenced by the British Music Hall. It also has a slight country influence—with the mesh of these two styles being a hallmark of the album. It is believed to be about Ray and Dave's grandmother.[1]
The lyrics humorously celebrate the British custom of drinking tea, and the civility that comes with it. Some absurd claims are made of the drink in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, such as "It's a cure for tonsilitis and for water on the knee." Yet the song also observes:
Whatever the situation, whatever the race or creed,
Tea knows no segregation, no class nor pedigree
It knows no motivation, no sect nor organisation,
It knows no one religion,
Nor political belief.[2]
The lyrics also feature a parody/homage to the McGuire Sisters' 1958 hit song "Sugartime":
Tea in the morning, tea in the evening, tea at supper time!
You get tea when it's raining, tea when it's snowing,
Tea when the weather's fine![3]
Though it was never a single in either the United Kingdom or the United States,[4] it does remain a fan favourite. It was an occasional feature of the Kinks live act of the early 1970s, and was also performed live by the group on the BBC TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test in January 1972.
The song was covered by Great Big Sea for their 2010 album Safe Upon the Shore.[5]
"HaveaCuppaTea" is a song written by Ray Davies and performed by the Kinks on their 1971 album Muswell Hillbillies. Like many Kinks songs, it is stylistically...
original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-15. "International Tea Day: Consumers Demand a Fair Cuppa". Fairtrade Canada. 2010-01-11. Archived from the original...
Hillbillies was the band's first album for RCA Records, their prior recordings having been released on Pye Records (Reprise Records in the United States). Their...
Tea is now Britain's best-selling cuppa". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 2 November 2019. News Desk (29 July 2016). "Yorkshire Tea to 'shake up' tea market...
original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023. "Tea fans splutter as Churchill favourite cuppa replaced with 'stale cigarettes' blend". The Independent...
(1966), "Afternoon Tea" and "Autumn Almanac" (both 1967), "The Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" (1968), "Victoria" (1969), "HaveaCuppaTea" (1971) and "Cricket"...
performance in 1996 and broke up in 1997 as a result of creative tension between the Davies brothers. The Kinks have had five Top 10 singles on the US Billboard...
tea; some havea cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral, or grassy notes. Tea...
matter what you do with this, it's a number one song". It could have been done in waltz time and it would have been a hit. – Shel Talmy, producer of "You...
Who has called it "divine" and "a masterpiece". In 1972, Record World said that it "may be the best thing [the Kinks have] ever done." Damon Albarn was...
"Living on a Thin Line" is a track written by Dave Davies and performed by The Kinks on their 1984 album, Word of Mouth. "Living on a Thin Line" is one...
describing it as having "Labour of Lust's feathery pop feel" and that "echoed to enhance Davies' wistful melancholy, Hynde sounded like a solo Mamas and...
forcibly that it would have been a pre-Christmas number 1. – Johnny Rogan, 1984 Pye refused to release "A Well Respected Man" as a single in the UK because...
not exist in a vacuum. It was a partner with its social environment and they both played upon each other creating meaning that could not have been brought...
"Tired of Waiting for You" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks. It was released as a single on 15 January 1965 in the UK and on 17 February 1965...
Love You" have been pointed out. Ray Davies said on the topic: "My publisher wanted to sue. I was unwilling to do that. I think they cut a deal somewhere...
out—it wouldn't have turned out that way. The bass player went off and started playing funny little classical things on the bass, more like a lead guitar:...
Lipton is a brand of tea named after its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton who started the business in 1890. The brand today is owned by Lipton Teas and Infusions...
love acuppa". Express. 23 September 2016. "Food Balance Sheets". Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Whitaker, Jan (2002), Tea at...
7 May 2012. "전통깊은 한국의 차". 11 December 1975. Milton, Joanna "A Nice Cuppa: The English Tea Ritual" in Dick Riley et al. [Eds] The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair...
the things the Kinks have been doing for the last three years is preserving nice things from the past, so I thought I'd write a song which said this ...
"Where Have All the Good Times Gone" is a song written by Ray Davies and performed by the Kinks. It was released as the B-side to "Till the End of the...
Global Information