"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" is a novelty song composed in 1944 (as "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts") by Fred Heatherton, an English songwriter.[1] It celebrates the coconut shy (coconut toss) at funfairs.
Merv Griffin's recording with Freddie Martin and His Orchestra (1950) is often miscredited to Monty Python on the Internet. The Martin/Griffin version reached the Billboard retail Top 10 and sold over three million copies.[2]
The song was also recorded by Danny Kaye in 1950. The song became Danny Kaye's only hit on the US charts.[3]
It was a staple song of the Billy Cotton Band Show on British radio and television. The song is still played over the public address at Cambridge United football matches after home wins.
The song appeared on I Could Go On Singing (1963), Judy Garland's last film. A portion of the song also appeared on Disney's The Lion King, and it was sung by Rowan Atkinson. Nicolas Cage also sang part of this song in National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Ringo Starr sang an impromptu version of the song in Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles' TV special broadcast by the BBC on 26 December 1967.[4] the Disney movie Gnomeo & Juliet has a portion of the song in it.
Swedish performer Povel Ramel wrote a Swedish version of the song in 1950. This version, "Far jag kan inte få upp min kokosnöt" ("Dad I can't crack my coconut open"), has little to do with the original. It is sung by a little boy, who, in the course of his attempts to open his resilient coconut, disfigures his mother, demolishes the family's furniture, and finally blows their house up. This version also features prominently in the film My Life as a Dog (1985) as well as in the Swedish version of The Lion King.