Bananaphone

Untitled

Bananaphone is the name of a children's album released in 1994. The title track's lyrics describes the bananaphone. The song uses many puns such as "It's a phone with appeal!" (a peel) and nonce words like "bananular" and "interactive-odular" as Raffi extols the virtues of his unique telephone. Aaron Bickerton wrote the lyrics to Bananaphone and sold them to Raffi for one yellow banana holder in 1993.

Internet popularity

The song became an Internet meme when the flash animation "Banana Phone" was released on the website Newgrounds.com. Since then, many fan-made music videos for the song have been created. The sped-up version has also been used in a flash movie featuring the badgers from another Internet meme, Badger Badger Badger.

On September 4, 2007, "Bananaphone" received what is thought to be its first ever full play on a commercial radio station when John Warburton played it on his breakfast show on 96.2 The Revolution with the promise that it would cheer people up. A snippet of the song had previously been played on the show after being found by production assistant Jim Hall. Prior radio exposure of the song occurred in snippet form only and usually in a sped up version (in the manner of, for example, Alvin and the Chipmunks). This version became a staple in 2004 on The Opie & Anthony Show and recurred with less frequency in subsequent years. Another snippet of "Bananaphone" is occasionally used at the end of some segments of The Colbert Report. It has also been made into a Half-Life 2 mod.

The sped-up version has been played during Cincinnati Reds radio broadcasts, in the event that the play-by-play team needs to take calls from the audience to kill time during rain delays.

Track listing

1. ”Bananaphone” (Creber, Raffi) 3:12
2. ”Shake a Toe” (Creber, Raffi) 2:20
3. ”The World We Love” (Creber, Raffi) 3:23
4. ”Slow Day” (Creber, Raffi) 3:25
5. ”The Changing Garden of Mr. Bell” (Hubbard, Silversher) 4:07
6. ”Naturally” (Creber, Raffi) 3:04
7. ”Spring Flowers” [instrumental] (Raffi) 2:40
8. ”C-A-N-A-D-A (Connors) 2:50
9. ”Michael Row the Boat Ashore” (Traditional) 3:25
10. ”First Peoples” (Creber, Raffi) 4:37
11. ”Dee Myth” [instrumental] (Raffi) 2:59
12. ”Cowlit Night” (Raffi) 3:21
13. ”The Gorilla Song” (Knowles, Knowles) 2:10
14. ”Simple Gifts” (Traditional) 2:15
15. ”Down by the Riverside” (Traditional) 3:13
16. ”The Shmenge Polka” [instrumental] (Raffi) 2:07

Cover Versions

The popular track "Bananaphone" has been covered in different musical genres, such as a heavy metal version done by the band Grim Saviour.

External links

• The Banana Phone video on NewGrounds.