Friday, November 09, 2007

15 SONGS ABOUT BANANAS


Since so many postings here lack a peel, I thought I'd slip in a bunch of banana songs. Watta fun fruit; you can eat it, you can make somebody have a pratfall, you can use it as a sex toy. The National Lampoon used a banana for a label logo...since you could get high smoking one (and that's good for a giggle).
One of the earliest songs mentioning this exotic fruit was from British Music Hall star Billy Merson. In "Out on the Prairie" he comes to America, finds a Mexican girl (in Indiana!) and propositions: "Have a banana, my dusky queen!" In "The Night I Appeared as Macbeth," he recalls the audience throwing sultanas and bananas at him ("Gadzooks...what a hit.")
But...our download begins with the first popular banana tune, "Yes, We Have No Bananas," here rendered with campy glee by the oft-irritating Anthony Newley. Less popular, but a dolefully fun novelty, is the Hoosier Hot Shots non-hit "I Like Bananas, Because They Have No Bones."
The next time a banana slipped into the charts was probably via the annoying Harry Belafonte classic "Day-O" (aka "The Banana Boat Song,") a number so obnoxious that Stan Freberg had a hit parody of it. (A similar request to cool it can be found on Shel Silverstein's "Inside Folk Music," which didn't make the download's 15 track max). The troublemaking team of Buchanan and Goodman offered a break-in piece called "Banana Boat Story" which makes almost no sense at all. Peter Sellers obscurely melded his Belafonte parody to the old Harry Champion British Music Hall hit "Boiled Beef and Carrots."
Probably the most popular banana song of the last few decades was simply the Chiquita Banana commercial jingle, but you'll find bananas on the minds of Gwen Stefani, M.I.A., Meie Mees, Jack Johnson and Garibaldi. They need no special mention here, but Guy Marks does. The deadpan comedian not only did strange miming (the cadence of a stork) and peculiar impressions (a western parody single in which Humphrey Bogart speaks and translates for an Indian chief)) he also issued an album featuring the campy but tongue-in-cheek novelty "Loving You Has Made me Bananas."
Your potassium-rich download also includes the sick-joke story-song "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" (we miss you Harry), "Bananas and Blow," "Juanita Banana" and "Banana Pancakes." Most of these banana tunes should put a big yellow grin on your face.

15 BANANA SONGS VIA R.S.

(UPDATE February 19, 2011...This file's gone due to Rapidshare's policy of punting a file that hasn't been downloaded in 30 or 60 days. UPDATE; November 2011 -- re-upped via Box, along with a dozen other files Rapidshare lost)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey man -- i love your blog. Any chance of as repost of the Ron Nagle "Bad Rice" record? I'm dying to hear it.

Ill Folks said...

Will try and go back to refresh those early posts that have expired.

In this case I might do a fresh post entirely, since I've found some of Ron's demo material. Hope to get to this on the 9th or 19th.

Thanks for fin-nagling around the blog.

Anonymous said...

Wow -- I can't wait for the Nagle (I'm a Jack Nitzsche freak!)

-JOsh Norton