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Apples and Bananas

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 98.109.144.35 (talk) at 02:20, 5 May 2018 (Credit to Raffi for writing the song, there are no references to the title earlier than 1985 when Raffi released it on his album One Light, One Sun). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"Apples and Bananas"
Song
from the album One Light, One Sun
WrittenRaffi Cavoukian
Released1985
GenreChildren's
Songwriter(s)Traditional

"Apples and Bananas" or "Oopples and Boo-noo-noos"[1] is a traditional[2] North American children's song that plays with the vowels of words. The first verse usually begins unaltered:

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.

The following verses replace most or all vowels with one given vowel sound, usually each of the long vowels sounds of ⟨a⟩ (/eɪ/), ⟨e⟩ (/iː/), ⟨i⟩ (/aɪ/), ⟨o⟩ (/oʊ/), and ⟨u⟩ (/uː/), although potentially any English vowel can be used. For example:

Raffi, a Canadian musician, released a version of the song on his album One Light, One Sun (1985). Raffi's version only changed the stressed vowels; that is, the vowels in "eat", "apples", and the last 2 syllables of "bananas". The song was described as one of several "old favorites" by the Ottawa Citizen in 1984.[3] The song was also sung on three early episodes of the children's television program Barney & Friends, as well as on Rock with Barney, the final video in the predecessor series Barney & the Backyard Gang. As with Raffi, Barney's version also only changed the stresses vowels. The Wiggles did sing their version on their album released in 2014.

See also

Sources

  1. ^ Smith, John A. The Reading Teacher, Vol. 53, No. 8, May 2000. "Singing and songwriting support early literacy instruction Archived March 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine". Accessed 10 March 2012.
  2. ^ "One Light, One Sun", AllMusic.com.
  3. ^ Ottawa Citizen. "Entertainers promise music, magic, mimicry". May 29, 1984, p. 43. Retrieved on July 3, 2014.