"Remember the tea-kettle—though up to its neck in hot water, it still sings” is cited in print from 1920. The saying was a popular one during the hard times ("hot water") of the Great Depression.
Tea Quotss and Sayings
Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings!—Author Unknown
26 April 1920, Clearfield (PA) Progress, pg. 2, col. 1:
A sage tells us to consider the tea kettle. Although up to the neck in hot water it continues to sing. Good advice.
11 July 1929, Ackley (Iowa) World-Journal, pg. 8, col. 3:
Remember the tea-kettle—though up to its neck in hot water it still sings.
Google News Archive
19 August 1933, St. Petersburg (FL) Evening Independent, pg. 2, col. 5:
Clermont Press: Take for instance the tea kettle. Though it is up to its neck in hot water it still sings.
10 November 1940, Los Angeles (CA) Times, pg. A1:
It is said “The spirit of optimism makes the tea-kettle sing, when it is up to its neck in hot water.”
Google Books
Second Encyclopedia of Stories, Quotations, and Anecdotes
edited by Jacob Morton Braude
Published by Prentice-Hall
1957
Pg. 18:
It is good to remember that the tea kettle, although up to its neck in hot water, continues to sing.
25 November 1957, Dallas (TX) Morning News, part 3, pg. 6:
The good life is like a tea kettle, though up to its neck in hot water, it still sings.
Google Books
Wisdom from world religions: pathways toward heaven on earth
By John Templeton
Published by Templeton Foundation Press
2002
Pg. 264:
It is good to remember that although a tea kettle may be up to its neck in hot water, it continues to sing! — American proverb
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeye's fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
This site is edited by Barry Popik.