Difference between revisions of "Banana Man"

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.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g7t-2gaQxO0wZ187M5epjiocUdbZs8alQysD7H71xPg Joe Hawley Email Interview.] October 2019.</ref>

Banana Man was recorded by [[Tally Hall]] in November of 2003 and released on a variant of [[Party Boobytrap]] and as a single in the same year.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040607013914/http://www.talentmatch.com/search/allview.asp?PID=59562&entry=tmurl# TalentMatch Tally Hall website archive]</ref> It was later released on [[Complete Demos]] in 2004.<ref>[https://tallyhall.bandcamp.com/track/banana-man-demo Banana Man (Demo).] Bandcamp.</ref> This demo included an extended whistling bridge and had a general rougher feel to it.  

Banana Man was later re-recorded for [[Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Album)|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.

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<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230819234748/https://whalejoey.com/about WhaleJoey.com. About page.] Archived via The Wayback Machine.</ref>, during November or December of 2003.<ref>[http://www.jenhardacker.com/wp-content/themes/blankslate/HardackerVita.pdf Jennifer Hardacker resume]</ref> It was directed and edited by Joe Hawley.<ref>[http://www.jonkmusic.com/2006/09/tally-hall/ Jonk Music Tally Hall article] Jonk Music.</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.pingry.org/uploaded/2016_Our_Community/Students/Publications/Pingry_Record/record-apr292005.pdf Pingry Record April 29th 2005]</ref> 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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050401011922/http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/ AlbinoBlackSheep 2005 archive] Archived Via The Wayback Machine.</ref> 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<ref>[http://tinawhelski.blogspot.com/2006/08/tally-halls-joe-hawley-interview.html TINA WHELSKI AUGUST 9, 2006 Joe Hawley Interview]</ref> and go on to accumulate 4.6 million views on YouTube as of April 2022.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yModCU1OVHY Tally Hall - Banana Man on YouTube.] YouTube.</ref>

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.{{cn}}

* Joe mentions the existence of a "Dance Dance Revolution-style Playstation game influencer somewhere", but he doesn't remember the name.{{cn}}

* Turn The Lights Off animator Drew Mokris owns the Zimbabwe songbirds and cage from the music video.<ref>[https://twitter.com/drewmo/status/243157273084575745/photo/1 Drew Mokris tweet] [[Twitter]].</ref>

* In 2009, a man named Vaughn English performed the song as a contestant on the show American Idol. He was eliminated shortly after.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htkFh6qLehU Video of Vaughn's performance] YouTube.</ref>