Day-O! Bananas in Song
From Jamaican work songs to children's earworms, the banana has a soundtrack.
“The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)”
The most famous banana song began as a Jamaican folk work song, sung by dockworkers loading bananas onto ships through the night. Its call-and-response lyric — “Day-o, daaay-o, daylight come and me wan’ go home” — is the voice of laborers waiting for the tallyman to count their bunches so they can finally rest.
Harry Belafonte turned it into an international sensation in 1956; his version helped ignite a calypso craze in the United States. It has since appeared everywhere from the dinner-party scene in Beetlejuice to countless commercials.
“Yes! We Have No Bananas”
This 1923 novelty tune was one of the best-selling songs of its era — a nonsensical, impossibly catchy number reportedly inspired by the broken English of a Greek fruit-stand owner. It became a Depression-era anthem of making light of scarcity.
“Bananaphone”
Canadian children’s musician Raffi released “Bananaphone” in 1994, and it has tormented and delighted parents ever since. Its relentless “ring ring ring ring ring ring ring, banana-phone” is a certified earworm — and a beloved internet meme.
Honorable mentions
- “30/90” / “Banana” references pepper pop culture, but the fruit’s biggest musical footprint is in reggae, calypso, and children’s music.
- Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” (2004) gave the world the immortal spelling lesson: “This s#!t is bananas — B-A-N-A-N-A-S.”