Yes! We Have No Bananas

"Yes! We Have No Bananas" is a novelty song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn from the 1922 Broadway revue Make It Snappy. Sung by Eddie Cantor in the revue, the song became a major hit in 1923 (placing No. 1 for five weeks)^[1] when it was recorded by Billy Jones, Arthur Hall, Irving Kaufman, and others. It was covered later by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, Spike Jones & His City Slickers, and many more. It also inspired a follow-up song, "I've Got the Yes! We Have No Bananas Blues", recorded by Billy Jones and others in 1923.

History

Frank Silver explained the origin of the song to TIME Magazine: "I am an American, of Jewish ancestry, with a wife and a young son. About a year ago my little orchestra was playing at a Long Island hotel. To and from the hotel I was wont to stop at a fruit stand owned by a Greek, who began every sentence with 'Yess.' The jingle of his idiom haunted me and my friend Cohn. Finally I wrote this verse and Cohn fitted it with a tune."^[2]

The song was the theme of the outdoor relief protests in Belfast in 1932. These were a unique example of Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland protesting together, and the song was used because it was one of the few non-sectarian songs that both communities knew. The song lent its title to a book about the depression in Belfast.^[3]

The term has been resurrected on many occasions, including during rationing in the United Kingdom in World War II, when the British government banned imports of bananas for five years. Shop owners put signs stating "Yes, we have no bananas" in their shop windows in keeping with the war spirit.

The song was the subject of a column by Sigmund Spaeth, who suggested that the melody could have been derived from a combination of parts of other songs, including the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah by Handel, "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean", "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls", "Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party", and Cole Porter's "An Old-Fashioned Garden".

Replacing the original lyrics with the appropriate melodic phrases, you get:

Hallelujah, Bananas! Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me
I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls—the kind that you seldom see
I was seeing Nellie home, to an old-fashioned garden: but,
Hallelujah, Bananas! Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me!^[1]

1. ^ Reader's Digest, Treasury of Best Loved Songs (1972), The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., LCCN 71-183858

Spaeth subsequently repeated his argument as an expert witness.

In popular culture

Comics

The song appeared in the popular Archie Comics.

Literature

The song is referenced several times in "Tender is the Night" by "F. Scott Fitzgerald".

Films

The song was mentioned in the films Only Angels Have Wings (1939) and Sabrina (1954).

In the musical film Luxury Liner (1948), the Pied Pipers performed the song.^[4]

A German version, "Ausgerechnet Bananen", was featured in Billy Wilder's slapstick comedy One, Two, Three (1961), played by an over-the-hill dance band at a drab East Berlin hotel bar.

The song was used as a leitmotif in The Comic (1969), often to underscore serious moments in the life of the film's protagonist (played by Dick Van Dyke).

In The English Patient (1996), a few verses are sung as a joke.

In the Mel Brooks film Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), comic homage is paid to the song when Harvey Korman responds to a question from Mel Brooks saying, "Yes, we have Nosferatu! We have Nosferatu today!"

A snippet is also sung by Craig Sheffer's character in A River Runs Through It (1992)

Music

In the 1970s, Harry Chapin used this phrase in the chorus to his song "30,000 Pounds of Bananas".

Television

The song was often used by singer and comedian Jimmy Durante on The Jimmy Durante Show in the 1950s and 1960s.

The song was parodied more than once on The Muppet Show, sung by various anthropomorphic fruits and vegetables.

In The Simpsons episode "Bart's Girlfriend" (November 6, 1994), Homer briefly sings, and then laments, the song.

In The Brady Bunch episode "Never Too Young", Greg, Marcia and Jan are looking through a record collection as they prep for a Roaring Twenties party. Jan reads the title of the record, finding it groovy and far out. She remarks, "Today that sounds more like a group instead of a song".

Weather report

More recently, the phrase was used in 2006, when Cyclone Larry destroyed a large portion of Australia's banana crop, leading to a shortage for most of the year.

References

External links

• Sheet music