Yes, We Have No Bananas

"Yes! We Have No Bananas" is the title of a novelty song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn that was a major hit in 1923, and one of the top songs of the 20th century. The song was recorded by Billy Jones, Arthur Hall, Irving Kaufman and others that year, and covered later by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, Spike Jones & His City Slickers and many more. It also inspired a follow-up, "I've Got the Yes! We Have No Bananas Blues", recorded by Jones and others in 1923.

History

Some speculate that a banana shortage at the time inspired the song.[1] The Long Island, New York, town of Lynbrook claims the songwriters wrote the tune there and that the catchphrase "Yes! We have no bananas" was coined by Jimmy Costas, a local Greek American greengrocer[2]; however, a 1923 article in the Chicago Tribune said the phrase originated in the Windy City in 1920.[3]

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.^[1]

The term has been resurrected on many occasions, including in Britain during World War II when the British Government banned the importing of bananas for five years. Shop owners would place signs stating "Yes, we have no bananas" in their shop windows in keeping with the general war spirit.

The song also appeared in the popular Archie Comics and was mentioned in the 1939 film, Only Angels Have Wings, and the 1954 movie, Sabrina. In The English Patient film, a few verses are sung as a joke. The German version "Ausgerechnet Bananen" was featured in Billy Wilder's 1961 slapstick comedy One, Two, Three, being played by an over-the-hill dance band at a drab East Berlin hotel bar. In the 1970s, Harry Chapin used this phrase in the chorus to his song "30,000 Pounds of Bananas". More recently, the phrase was again used by the media when Cyclone Larry destroyed a large proportion of Australia's banana crop in 2006, leading to a shortage for most of the year.

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" and "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls". Spaeth subsequently repeated his argument as an expert witness.

According to his assertions, the lyrics would come out like this:

Hallelujah! Bananas,
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me!
I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls,
The kind that you seldom see;

[[actually this should be the third line of the song

"I had riches too great to count, could boast

Of a high ancestral name"]]

I was walking Nellie home
To an old-fashioned garden;
But hallelujah! bananas;
Oh bring back my Bonnie to me!

Allusions

• The phrase "Yes, we have no bananas" also appears in the live recording of Harry Chapin's song "30,000 Pounds of Bananas", as the first of three possible endings. Chapin sings "Yes, we have no bananas. We have no bananas today. And if that was not enough, Yes, we have no bananas, no bananas in Scranton, PA."
• Kurt Vonnegut wrote an essay about Transcendental Meditation called "Yes, We Have No Nirvanas", which appears in the collection Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons.
• Used in a commercial for Newtons cookies promoting the new grape variety, which included a chimpanzee disappointed that there were no Banana Newtons.
• In the 1939 film Only Angels Have Wings, Kid Dabb (Thomas Mitchell) explains to Geoff Carter (Cary Grant) that the boat did not stop that day because "They have no bananas". When Geoff asks, "They have no bananas?", Kid replies, "Yes, they have no bananas."
• In an episode of Mad About You the phrase is, grammatically, worked into the dialog: "Do we still have bananas, or did you finish them?" ... "Yes" ... "Yes, you finished them, or yes, we have no bananas?"
• In an episode of The Simpsons Homer, noting Bart's growing up, reminices, "sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset. Cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon. Yes we have no bananas...*sobs* did not you hear! They have no bananas!"
• In the 1954 movie Sabrina, Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart listen to the record while sailing, and later, Hepburn sings a part of the chorus while washing the car with her father.
• In the 1961 movie One, Two, Three A small orchestra at the Grand Hotel Potemkin plays a German version of "Yes We Have No Bananas".
• In an episode of The Tick called "The Tick vs. the Big Nothing" the race of nothing-worshipping Heys state "Yes, we have no bananas" as propaganda.
• In an episode of the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert says "Should not it be, no we do not have any bananas, thats been bugging me for 75 years"
• In Grand Theft Auto IV, some random pedestrians may yell "I DO not HAVE ANY BANANAS!" if approached.
• In The Muppet Show, season 2, episode 8, guest starring Steve Martin, the song is performed by a cast of singing muppet vegetables, as part of an act called "Marvin Suggs and His All-Food Glee Club".
• A 1939 western-themed Three Stooges short was entitled "Yes, We Have No Bonanza."
• This was picked up in the Soviet Union in the glasnost era, and was a favourite graffiti phrase of the students in Class 87-02, Chelyabinsk Tank Academy.
• In "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" (2007) DVD extras under "Fun on the Set", Dustin Hoffman says "Yes, We Have No Bananas" to the cameraman.
• In an episode of the Brady Bunch, the family is preparing to have 1920s themed party. Cindy looks through some old records finds "Yes We Have No Bananas", she then says that sounds like the name of a music group rather than a song
• Used in a commercial in the UK for People's Phone, a mobile phone company, during the 1990s.
• New York Times article of June 18, 2008, Yes, We Will Have No Bananas

References

See also

• Gros Michel banana

Resources

• Edison Blue Amberol#4778 wma
• Sam Lanin - Yes! We Have No Bananas, 1923
• MP3 excerpt from song
• Lyrics and MIDI version of song
• Sheet music to song
• Movie from 1930
• Newtons commercial that references the song
• A tribute site that lists multilingual translations of the song's central lyrics
• A Muppet Show rendition