Long ago I saw Julie Andrews on television where she sang a song whose
lyrics included the phrase "...It's water to the tea, not tea to the
water..." The song went on to describe the proper method for making
tea. Can you tell me the title of this song and whether or not it has
been recorded?

It is good to see you again, Andy! I wish I had a nice answer wrapped
up for you, but all I can offer is a cobweb-coated shard of memory.

What a frustration it is to remember a song and yet not remember
enough details to be of use.

I definitely recall this song. I believe (but cannot prove) that it
was one of the songs performed in a one-hour television special
entitled "Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall," featuring Julie Andrews
and Carol Burnett.

Unfortunately, I can find no evidence whatsoever to support my rather
rickety memory. I hope someone else will succeed where I have failed,
because this is one of those questions that tends to nibble at the
back of one's consciousness, inducing that dread disease, Researcher's
Insomnia.

~Pink

I actually have that "record."   I'll check.

Nellie, I used to have the "Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall" LP, but
I don't think the tea song was on it. The LP had only about two-thirds
of the songs that were in the show.

Sorry, the Andrews/Burnett record is among the missing.  Would you
settle for Ethel Merman and Mary Martin?

But seriously, that show would be a likely suspect.

Nellie Bly

I, too, recall this performance and I had no luck in uncovering a
solid web reference.  An album of Andrews was re-released in 1999
under the title "Tea For Two"  The first release was referenced as
"Love, Julie" in 1987. See the 9th album on the site
http://www.julieandrews.co.uk/discog_main.htm

In 1989, Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews starred in an Emmy-winning
television special "Together Again" - since Andrews had recorded the
song "Tea For Two" just two years earlier, the part you recall may
have been a special material addition to the standard song written for
that particular show.  See
http://www.julieandrews.co.uk/article_julieandcarol_main.htm for an
interview article about the show.

If your local video store can get a copy of this video, your query
might be answered.  If you cannot locate one locally, there is one
available at Amazon - it's in the used section but it's advertised as
new.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/offering/list/-/6303162665/all/ref=dp_pb_a/104-2325657-8817508

I can't say for sure that this is the show you saw but I wanted to
offer yet another clue.  :)  Good luck!

Pink (or did we agree that I should call you Mr. Freud?), it's good to
hear from you too. As a gay man, I was required to learn every song on
the "Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall" LP, and to be able to sing each
from memory. This was part of the examination used by the Castro
Street Rating Association which ranked each of us by the number of
show tunes we knew, the number of songs by Judy Garland and like that.
I did very well, by the way, and earned my puce belt. Anyway I
digress. I can say with certainty that this song was not on the album.
We had to memorize the jacket notes, too, as I recall.

As I had already reached the plateau of puce, I didn't have to
memorize the songs from the second time Julie and Carol sang together,
so I will purchase the video that Mr. Journalist mentions. I thank you
for the time you've spent on this trivial question. But maybe it'll
come up again when I go for my fuchsia belt.

Andy

Pink,

Are you there? It's not like you not to answer one of my pithy comments.

Andy,

So astounded was I at being addressed as 'Mr. Freud' that I lost my
manners and did not respond to your moving account of the rigors of
show tune memorization. I hope you won a merit badge from the Castro
Street Rating Association. And I hope the merit badge doesn't clash
with the cerise belt that I'm sure you'll earn one day. ;-)

~Pink (Ms. Freud)

Ms. Freud,

How embarrassed I am to find that you’re a Ms.  and not a Mr. I mean,
I just assumed; I mean I thought. Oh the heck with it. I didn’t think.
All this time and come to find out…  I’ll be ordering the tape and
I’ll let you know what I find.

Andy

Please don't be embarrassed. One of the wonders of the Internet is
that everyone we meet is initially a disembodied self, free of the
restrictions of gender identity and age.

I own a copy of the "Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall" video and I can
second beauregard's assertion that this song was not a part of the
performance.

[I realize that comment added very little to the discussion, but I
couldn't resist adding my two cents.]

-rsquared

Learning for certain where the song *isn't* is useful, rsquared-ga.

At least we know where not to look! :-)

A friend of mine who is a showtunes maniac has suggested that the song
in question could have been one of Stephen Sondheim's songs from his
ill-fated "Mary Poppins." Possibly the Julie Andrews/Poppins
connection caused my friend to have a short circuit in his brain,
because I don't think this is at all likely. Sondheim really did write
several songs for a "Mary Poppins" production that fizzled, but I
doubt that the songs ended up being performed by Miss Andrews.

The mind reels at any sentence containing both the names Sondheim and
Poppins. What'd he have her as? A serial killer? A child molester?
Yes, that must be it. Whole set is very dark and Mary Poppins goes
around killing her charges and then eating them. Or maybe the other
way around. The song Super-cali-fragil-istic-expial-i-docious would be
in a minor key and the melody would go all over the place. There would
be the scene on the steps of St. Paul's where she'd sing "Eat the
Birds". Oh the possibilities are endless. Sondheim and Poppins is
almost like "Medea in Disneyland". Not a juxtaposition one ever
expects to encounter.