Lyr Req: Thanks a Lot for the Teabag (Jim Bennet)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thanks a Lot for the Teabag (Jim Bennet)
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Sep 20 - 03:08 PM

This reminded me of the brief scene in the movie "Stalag Seventeen" where the prisoners are greeting a new arrival. They offer him tea which consists of a single teabag kept for the occasion which is dipped for an instant into the cup of water, then put back hanging in its place from a nail.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thanks a Lot for the Teabag (Jim Bennet)
From: leeneia
Date: 11 Sep 20 - 11:52 AM

What with the quarantine, I haven't been able to go to the library, and I'm running out of things to read. The other day I re-read a book of stories about Winnie the Pooh and friends.

The song 'Thanks a Lot for the Teabag' sounds like something Eeyore the donkey would have composed, had he moved to the city.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thanks a Lot for the Teabag (Jim Bennet)
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Sep 20 - 03:52 PM

This is from memory. I'm pretty sure of the rhyming pattern and ideas, but the exact wording may be off.

I woke up early this morning
All alone in my cold water flat
And noticed a circle of crayon
'Round the calendar date we were at
And I knew that it must be my birthday
And I wondered just what I would do
'Cause it wouldn't seem quite like my birthday
If I didn't get something from you.

Then I heard a firm step on the stairway
And I heard a loud knock the door
So I picked up my tattered old bathrobe
From the pile where it lay on the floor
I knew that it must be the post man
I could tell by his uniform blue
And he gave me a brown paper parcel
As I gave him ten cents postage due.

[chorus]
Oh, thanks a lot for the teabag.
You shouldn't have bothered you know.
I never paid much mind to birthdays.
They just seem to come and to go.
But I've always liked gifts that are thoughtful,
Things with a personal touch,
And it really is quite a nice teabag
And it hasn't been used, very much.

As I tenderly tucked my new teabag
In the third bureau drawer at the rear
Right next to the box of burnt matches
You sent for my birthday last year
I'll open that drawer every Sunday
And gaze at the spot where it's at
And I know it will last me a long time
After all, it's a cold water flat.

[chorus]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thanks a lot for the Teabag
From: GUEST,Jan
Date: 05 Oct 13 - 08:28 PM

Thanks Maeve. I was living near Detroit at the time and often listened to CBC radio. That must be where I heard it. I'm still digging around the web hoping to find it. No luck yet, but having Jim's name may help.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thanks a lot for the Teabag
From: maeve
Date: 05 Oct 13 - 10:21 AM

This is a link to Clary Croft's webpage. He apparently sang the Teabag song on the show. I'd guess you could contact him directly, as you could probably also contact Jim Bennet with a little detective work (see end of quoted passage, in previous post.) Both gentlemen have made significant contributions to the field of Atlantic Canadian music.

That's all I have time for for now. I'm sure our Canadian musicians will help much more than I have been able to.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thanks a lot for the Teabag
From: maeve
Date: 05 Oct 13 - 10:07 AM

Guest, Jan may also like to know Jim Bennet is also the creator of another song, BLACK RUM AND BLUEBERRY PIE , linked here to a Mudcat thread that includes the lyrics and tune (abc format). I found a reference to another of his songs here- You Ain't a Nova Scotian If You Don't Like Fish along with the following:
"Note: Jim Bennet is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, best known for his career as a CBC radio and television personality. His thirteen years as co-host of the network's popular Singalong Jubilee program (1961-1973) provided the showcase for his talent both as a performer and author/composer of some of Eastern Canada's best-loved humorous songs. This song was sung on the show by Mr. Bennet and the Jubilee Singers more than once. He has also compiled two books, Jim Bennet's Verse: a compendium in Rhyme and Metre, wit, humor, satire, parody, plaint, impertinence, stuff and nonsence, etc. (Petheric Press, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1979) and Jim Bennet Rhymes Again, Poetry & Prose (Formac Publishing Company Limited, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1989). In recent years, Jim has been the senior consultant at Bennet Communications Ltd., in Halifax.
~ Courtesy: Robert V. Smith, 2008."

Might be useful information.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thanks a lot for the Teabag
From: maeve
Date: 05 Oct 13 - 09:56 AM

Written by Jim Bennet, and included in the songbook "Remembering Singalong Jubilee", the CBC tv show out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. I found this link on Google Books: Remembering Singalong Jubilee

I have not yet found lyrics or a sound file, but that information may be helpful to you and others in the meantime.

Subject: Lyr Req: Thanks a Lot for the Teabag
From: GUEST,Jan
Date: 04 Oct 13 - 11:51 PM

I heard this song on the radio a couple times back in the early 70s. I had the words, but can't find them now. The singer is living in a coldwater flat, he knows it's his birthday because he circled it on the calendar in red, and he's excited when the mailman brings him a gift, which turns out to be a teabag that's "only been used once or twice". Has anyone else ever heard it?