Banana Man

Banana Man

Written by	Joe Hawley
Appears on	Banana Man (Single), Complete Demos, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum
Sung by	Joe Hawley
Genre	Rock
Language	English
Links:	Youtube Spotify Bandcamp Demo (Youtube) Demo (Bandcamp) Lounge Version (Bandcamp)

Banana Man is a song by Joe Hawley.

History

Joe states that the song came from a time that he awoke in the middle of the night during his high school years to the sound of African villagers chanting on his TV (He thinks it may be due to his Samsung GXTV's timer). Later, at one of his younger sister's dance competitions in Myrtle Beach, he wrote the lyrics alone in their hotel room.^[1]

Banana Man was recorded by Tally Hall in November of 2003 and first released as a single in the same year.^[2] It was later released on Complete Demos in 2004.^[3] This demo included an extended whistling bridge and had a general rougher feel to it.

Banana Man was later recorded for Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum the next year. In 2007, the song would be remixed and partially re-recorded for Atlantic Records. The intro vocals would be re-recorded, and the guitar and harmonies are mixed louder.

A "lounge" version of Banana Man was included on Admittedly Incomplete Demos, which was recorded for the Taken For A Ride episode of Tally Hall's Internet Show.

Song Meanings

When asked about its meaning in a 2005 chat on thecarpetedwall.com (Coz Baldwin's website), Joe stated "there is no hidden secret meaning, work vs. play".

Music Video

The music video for Banana Man was created as a class project for Jennifer Hardacker’s Video Art II class at the University of Michigan^[4], during November or December of 2003.^[5] It was directed and edited by Joe Hawley.^[6] The video stars Joe Hawley as himself and the titular character of Banana Man, with the other members of Tally Hall (as the Zimbabwe songbirds) and friends from U of M. The video won "Best Music Video" at the 2004 Flint Film Festival.^[7] The video was later uploaded to tallyhall.com where it could be streamed and downloaded.

On March 5th 2005, the video would make its way onto AlbinoBlackSheep, a website for videos and animations by internet creators.^[8] There, it would gain immense popularity, becoming the most popular video on the site for a time. The video would reportedly be downloaded over 2 million times^[9] and go on to accumulate 4.6 million views on YouTube as of April 2022.^[10]

Banana Man also saw small success on television, being used in the MTV show "The Real World: Key West" as the theme song for Johnny Bananas.

Trivia

The line "And then forget about de yellow from de beckoning man" originally said "colorful man".
On the YouTube content ID system, they credit "Clifton Chenier" as the sole writer of Banana Man. Clifton Chenier was a musician that played zydeco, a combination of blues and indigenous music of the Louisiana Creoles. It's possible he was a big influence on the song and Joe himself.
Joe mentions the existence of a "Dance Dance Revolution-style Playstation game influencer somewhere", but he doesn't remember the name.
There is a quiet, (1, 2, 3, 4!) before the second verse and the music pops in.
There are whispers during the instrumental section of the bridge, the demo version being transcribed by Skye and Andre.^[11]
Turn The Lights Off animator Drew Mokris owns the Zimbabwe songbirds and cage from the music video.^[12]

Lyrics

Ladies and gentlemen, Colonel P.T. Chester Whitmore is proud to present
Bung Vulchungo and the Zimbabwe Songbirds!

Do you see banana man
Hopping over on de white hot sand
Here he come with some for me
Freshly taken from banana tree (1,2,3,4!)

Banana man me want a ton
Gimme double and a bonus one
Gimme more for all me friends
Dis banana flow will never end

Do you want a banana?
Peel it down and go
Mmm mmm mmm mmmm
Do you want a banana?
Dis banana for you

Tonight we dance around de flame
Then we get to play de spirit game
Spirit names we shout out loud
Shake de thunder from de spirit cloud

All de songbirds in de tree
Chant a tune to let de spirits free
Then we see them in de night
Spirits jumping by de fire light

Do you want a banana?
Peel it down and go
Mmm mmm mmm mmmm
Do you want a banana?
Dis banana for you

Look you
You too uptight, you know
You could laugh and kick it back and go (wheee)
But without a rhythm or a rhyme
You do not banana all de time
Fly away from city on de run
Try to make a little fun

Look you
Come to de bungalow
African't you tell me told you so
Don't you love de bumping of de drum
Make you shake until de bum go numb
Let de bongo play you 'til you drop
Dis banana never stop

Forget all your troubles and go with the flow
Forget about whatever you may never know
Like whether whatever you doing is whatever you should
And whether anything you do is ever anything good
And then forget about banana when it stick in your throat
And when it make you wanna bellow but you stuck in a choke
And then forget about de yellow from de beckoning man
Who make you take another one and make a mock of your plan

Bungalay
Bungalow
Make up your mind
And tell me no

Well it's nine o'clock
And it's getting dark
And the sun is falling from the sky
I've never left so early
And you may wonder why

Tomorrow morning on de plane
No banana make you go insane
Floating back to busy town
No banana make you want to frown

Do you want a banana?
Peel it down and go
Mmm mmm mmm mmmm
Do you want a banana?
Dis banana for you