From “Cocoanuts”, 1925
Words and music by Irving Berlin
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
Five o’clock in the afternoon
Means nothing over here
But across the sea
It means a little cup of tea
It means a cup of tea
Does five o’clock across the sea
No-one works in the afternoon
When five o’clock draws near
For they all agree
To have a little cup of tea
That’s when they all agree
To have a little cup of tea
They go about their labors
Without a single sound
And speak well of their neighbors
Till five o’clock comes ’round
Then they grab a tea-cup handle
And they breathe a breath of scandal
For it seems that custom sets the gossips free
To say it with a cup of tea
It sets the gossips free to say it with a cup of tea
An Ambassador has reached the shore
With a note from Porto Rico
But affairs of State will have to wait
For a cup of Orange pekoe
So you see, that a cup of tea
Is an awful lot to them and ought to be
An awful lot to you and me
A little cup of tea
Should mean a lot to you and me
Chorus
One o’clock, two o’clock
Three o’clock, four o’clock
Five o’clock and we
Ought to have some tea
Like the folks across the sea
Come along, here’s a cup
Won’t you please fill it up
Fill it up for me?
With a drop of five o’clock tea
A cup of “oo-long” is so easy to sip
You don’t have to carry it on your hip
One o’clock, two o’clock
Three o’clock, four o’clock
Five o’clock and we
Should go and have a cup of
L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-tea
A little more of less of
L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S
T-E-A Tea