Yes! We Have No Bananas

History

In 1923, 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 'Yes'. The jingle of his idiom haunted me and my friend Cohn. Finally I wrote this verse and Cohn fitted it with a tune."

The shopkeeper who said "Yes! We Have No Bananas" and inspired this song may have been one of the many affected by a worldwide decline in the banana crop caused by Panama disease.

Legacy

Parody

Its success inspired a parody, "I've Got the 'Yes! We Have No Bananas' Blues", first recorded by Billy Jones and Sam Lanin (with vocals by Irving Kaufman and others) in 1923. The song describes the protagonist's frustration with weeks of hearing the original song performed in cabarets and shows.

During Eddie Cantor's July 1923 rendition of the parody, he exclaims, "Stop!" to interrupt a quartet singing the original song and threatens to call a cop on them, because he just "can't take it any longer".

Belle Baker performed the parody in August 1923.

Al Jolson recorded a mock-operatic version, in blackface, on film in the 1930s.

The Three Stooges used the song title as a parody for the 1939 short Yes, We Have No Bonanza.

Other uses

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 widely known in both communities. The song lent its title to a book about the depression in Belfast. The Banana Block in East Belfast also references this song in the building's history.

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 1934 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, it becomes:

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!}}

In the 1975 live version of "30,000 Pounds of Bananas," Harry Chapin builds in two "alternate" endings based on different musical genres. One of the endings is a variation of "Yes! We Have No Bananas."

We have no bananas today. Yes! We have no bananas - bananas in Scranton, PA!}}

In the 1970s and 1980s, the American airline Hughes Airwest used an advertising jingle, "Yes! We are Top Banana", set to the tune of "Yes! We Have No Bananas". The ads referred to the airline's bright yellow airplanes and its slogan, "Top Banana in the West."

On January 1, 2019, the song's sheet music entered the public domain in the United States. In 2024, the 1923 recordings entered the public domain in the United States.

References

References

1. (1891). "Catalog of copyright entries". Catalog of Copyright Entries.musical Compositions.
2. CD liner notes: Chart-Toppers of the Twenties, 1998 ASV Ltd.
3. (2 July 1923). "No Bananas".
4. Briggs, Helen. (5 July 2018). "Yes! We have no bananas: Why the song may come true again". BBC News.
5. Smoley, Richard. (November 29, 2019). "The story behind 'Yes, We Have No . . . Bananas' – Produce Blue Book".
6. althazarr's good time oldies. (2015-12-29). "Eddie Cantor - I've Got The Yes! We Have No Bananas Blues".
7. "I've got the Yes! We have no banana blues".
8. Belle Baker - Topic. (2015-11-29). "Got Yes We Have No Bananas Blues (Recorded August, 1923)".
9. "I've got the 'Yes, we have no bananas' blues".
10. (2 May 2007). "Al Jolson sings "Yes we have no bananas" - video Dailymotion".
11. Devlin, Paddy. "Yes, We Have No Bananas: Outdoor Relief in Belfast, 1920-39".
12. "Belfast and Bananas?".
13. Beryl. (8 August 2016). "Yes, We Have No Bananas".
14. "The Nation at a Standstill: Shutdown in the Second World War".
15. "Columbia Daily Spectator 21 March 1934 — Columbia Spectator".
16. Reader's Digest, ''Treasury of Best Loved Songs'' (1972), The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., LCCN 71-183858
17. "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgqHi3SBrLY Hughes Air West 1980 TV Commercial]", YouTube; accessed 2025.03.23.
18. (June 29, 1976). "Now, "Top Banana" service". Deseret News.
19. (July 5, 2011). "Say Again?".
20. Fleishman, Glenn. (January 2019). "For the First Time in More Than 20 Years, Copyrighted Works Will Enter the Public Domain". Smithsonian Institution.
21. "Public Domain Day 2019". [[Duke University School of Law]].
22. "Public Domain Day 2024".