Origins: Yes We Have No Bananas

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yes We Have No Bananas
From: GUEST,999
Date: 09 Jan 10 - 12:38 AM

Welcome, Q. How did you even know that that song existed? This place is an education.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yes We Have No Bananas
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Jan 10 - 04:39 PM

Thanks for the blues Bananas, 999.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yes We Have No Bananas
From: GUEST,999
Date: 08 Jan 10 - 01:23 AM

You are more than welcome, Robyn. Anything I can do to help you get back stuff you lost, please lemme know.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yes We Have No Bananas
From: Little Robyn
Date: 08 Jan 10 - 01:22 AM

Hi Gaiamuse, my old computer had the old fashioned Digitrad too but today it was sent to the recyclers, minus its hard drive.
999 thanks for that.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yes We Have No Bananas
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Jan 10 - 11:28 PM

I'VE GOT THE YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS BLUES
(C. Williams)

Eddie Cantor - 1924
Also recorded by: Belle Baker; Eva Taylor.


Lately I've been off my nut
I keep hearing nothing but
"Yes, We Have No Bananas".
I would like to find the guy
Who composed that lullaby
"Yes, We Have No Bananas".
I wish that I could go
To a cabaret or show
Where someone wouldn't come along
And sing that doggone song!

I've got the Yes We Have No Bananas Blues
I've got the blues
And when I hear it
Oh, how I fear it!
It's just like hearing bad news.
It hasn't got a bit of sense
And I go wild when they commence
"Bananas! Bananas!"
I wish I could break up a million pianas!
Day by day and week by week
It's "Yes, We Have No Bananas"
Every time that Greek meets Greek
It's "Yes, We Have No Bananas"
B! A! N! A! N! A!
Yes! No! Take 'em away!
I've got the "Yes, We Have No Banana" Blues today.

Apricots and apples are good to eat,
Potatoes and tomatoes can't be beat,
Onions, cabashes, peaches and plums,
I could stand for any kind of fruit that comes.
Yesterday somebody kept on asking me,
"Say, what's a wegistable what begins with "P"?
I gave it up and I asked him to tell--
When he said, "Pananas!" I just had to yell!
P! A! N! A! N! A!
Yes! No, no! Take 'um away!
I've got the "Yes, We Have No Bananas" Blues today.


from

lyricsplayground.com/.../i/ivegottheyeswehavenobananasblues.shtml

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yes We Have No Bananas
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jan 10 - 11:09 PM

Don't worry too much about format, Gaiamuse. It's nice to have things in proper Digital Tradition Format, but I standardize formatting when I review lyrics and correct spelling and such. The official format has ADD and the song title (in Title Case) in the "Subject" box of the message, and the text box with title in ALLCAPS, songwriter name in parentheses on the next line, and notes and source information after the lyrics.

When we have a documented original source like what we have in Jim Dixon's post, I often don't bother formatting the other posts. Still, it's worthwhile to have other versions if they're versions that people actually sing.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yes We Have No Bananas
From: Gaiamuse
Date: 07 Jan 10 - 10:48 PM

Sorry Robyn about what's going on for you. As for my posting...I'm a newbie here so I suspect I didn't post this right since I wanted to post it in the song search section and there it actually asks that you post the title in caps..so not sure what I should do now since it's in the text section. (If it helps I am a veteran folkie and first "downloaded" mudcat when the songs came in a searchable DOS format!...Actually I still have that on my computer....but it's a been a while...)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yes We Have No Bananas
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 09:21 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics of "The Yes We Have No Bananas Blues,", 1923, by Billy Jones?

The song was used during the Outdoor Relief protests in Belfast in 1932. Does anyone have a version sung at that time?

Subject: Lyr. Add: Banana Split For My Baby
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 09:04 PM

Yes, We Have No Bonanza was a classic Three Stooges film from the golden age of the movies.

Louis Prima was successful with Yes, We Have No Bananas

One of Prima's verses:
The new English "clark" (a. k. a. clerk):
Yes, we are very sorry to inform you
That we are entirely out of the fruit in question
The afore-mentioned vegetable bearing the cognomen "BANANA"
We might induce you to accept a substiture less desirable, But that is not the policy at this internationally famous green grocery
I should say not. No No No No No No No
But may we suggest that you sample our five o'clock tea
Which we feel certain will tempt your palette?
However, we regret that after a diligent search
Of the premises by our entire staff
We can positively affirm withour fear of contradiction
That our raspberries are delicious; really delicious
Very delicious;
But we have no bananas today.
--------------------
Might I also suggest:

BANANA SPLIT FOR MY BABY
Louis Prima

Banana split for my baby
A glass of plain water for me
Banana split for my baby
A glass of plain water for me

Dispenser man, if you please
Sere my chick a mess of calories

Banana split for my baby
A glass of plain water for me.

Slip back the lid, scoop everything in sight
Make it a rainbow of red, brown and white
Chocolate chip and everything that's nice
Tutti-frutti once and spumoni twice

Banana split for my baby
And a glass of plain water for me

Spray the whipped cream for at least an hour
Pile it as high as the Eiffel Tower
Load it with nuts, about sixteen tons
Top it with a pizza just for fun

Banana split for my baby
And a plain glass of water for me
Banana split for my baby
A glass of plain water for me

Stack her up with crazy goo
'Cause that's the stuff she likes to wade right through

Banana split for my baby
A glass of plain water for me

Now add the cherries, the kind she loves to munch
Skip one banana, use the whole damn bunch
Drown it in fudge, six or seven cans
Give her two spoons, she'll eat it with both hands

Banana split for my baby
A glass of plain water for me

Separate checks, it must be
Charge the split to her, the water to me

Oh the banana split's for my baby
And the glass of plain water for me
Ain't got no money
The glass of plain water's for me.

Many folk versions of "Yes, We Have No ...." sung on the street.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS
From: Little Robyn
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 01:31 AM

Sorry, I didn't mean to bite your head off.
I think I've got the blues at the moment - one of the little Down's men that I look after died a couple of weeks before Christmas, then Theresa a few days back. Now my friend Ray seems to be ready to give up and Jean is not too well either.
So then someone adds a show song that nobody had asked for, with loud shouting in the title, and that was my last straw.
But I'm sure there are lots of people who want to know those words and maybe I should go somewhere quiet and sing them too. Would that cheer me up?
Robyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS
From: Gaiamuse
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 12:22 AM

Uh...er...I think one will find lots of songs here that don't strictly fit in the folk category. The reason I posted it was that the version posted in the lyric section only had one verse --

http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=7998


so I was posting this one to add the second verse...but now I see all the lyrics are posted in a text thread. Somewhat confusing. If this should be removed someone let me know but is there a way to get that extra verse onto the lyric section? Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Jan 10 - 10:34 PM

The same thing it's been doing since 1997, I guess.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS
From: Little Robyn
Date: 05 Jan 10 - 08:34 PM

So what is it doing on a folk site?
Robyn

Subject: Lyr Add: YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS
From: Gaiamuse
Date: 05 Jan 10 - 08:18 PM

Yes We Have No Bananas

There's a fruit store on our street
It's run by a Greek
And he keeps good things to eat, but you should hear him speak!
When you ask him anything, he never answers "no"
He just yes'es you to death, and as he takes your dough, he tells you
"Yes, we have no bananas
We have-a no bananas today
We've string beans, and onions
Ca-bah-ges, and scallions,
And all sorts of fruit, and say
We have an old fashioned to-mah-to
A Long Island po-tah-to. But yes, we have no bananas
We have no bananas today!

Business got so good for him that he wrote home today,
"Send me Pete and Nick and Jim! I need help right away!"
When he got them in the store, there was fun, you bet
Someone asked for "sparrow grass*" and then the whole quartet
All answered "Yes, we have no bananas
We have-a no bananas today
Just try those co-co-nuts
Those wall-nuts and doughnuts
There ain't many nuts like they!
We'll sell you two kinds of red herring,
Dark brown, and ball-bearing
But yes, we have no bananas
We have no bananas today"

("Sparrow grass" = Asparagus)

From the 1922 Broadway Revue "Make it Snappy" by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn. Sung by Eddie Cantor.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yes We Have No Bananas
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Nov 06 - 07:35 AM

The Red Hot Jazz Archive has recordings by

The California Ramblers, 1923.
Bennie Krueger and his Orchestra, 1923.
Alex Hyde and his New York Orchestra, 1924.

---

Threads combined. Messages below are from a new thread.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yes We Have No Bananas
From: masato sakurai
Date: 13 Nov 06 - 12:57 AM

Audio recording (1923) by the Yerkes Novelty Five with Arthur Hall (vocal).

Subject: Lyr Add: YES! WE HAVE NO BANANAS (Silver, Cohn)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Nov 06 - 10:58 PM

From Indiana University Sheet Music Collections:

YES! WE HAVE NO BANANAS
(Frank Silver & Irving Cohn, 1923)

1. There's a fruit store on our street.
It's run by a Greek,
And he keeps good things to eat,
But you should hear him speak.
When you ask him anything,
Never answers "no."
He just "yesses" you to death
And as he take your dough, he tells you:

CHORUS: YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.
We've string beans and HON-ions,
Cab-BAH-ges and scallions,
And all kinds of fruit and say,
We have an old fashioned to-MAH-to,
Long Island po-TAH-to,
But YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.

2. Bus'ness got so good with him,
He wrote home to say,
"Send me Pete and Nick and Jim.
I need help right away."
When he got them in the store,
There was fun, you bet.
Someone asked for "Sparrowgrass"
And then the whole quartet all answered:

Extra Choruses

2. YES! We have no bananas; we have no bananas today.
Our eggs are delicious,
But they act suspicious.
They look like they passed away.
And if you try some of our spin-ISH,
We'll tell you your finish,
But, YES! We have no bananas; we have no bananas today.

3. YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.
We'll sell you some Swiss cheese.
When you open up this cheese,
It gets up and walks away.
We got those IM-ported STRUM-berries,
From fine cemeteries,
But, YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.

4. YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.
Our grapefruit, I'll bet you,
Is not gonna wet you.
We drain them out every day.
We got those hen fruit—have you tried 'em?
Live chickens inside 'em,
But, YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.

5. YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.
We just killed a pony,
So try our bologny.
It's flavored with oats and hay.
We have those New Hamp-SHY-re squashes.
They taste like go-LAH-shes,
But, YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.

6. YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.
Our famous cucumbers
Were tested by plum-BERS,
And they cannot leak, they say.
We have some nice fresh vege-TAY-bles.
Just look at the labels,
But, YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.

7. YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.
We have aspar-AY-gus
That's good for lum-BAY-gus,
And grapefruit that's turning gray;
And you can take home for the WIM-mens
Nice juicy per-SIM-mons,
But, YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.

8. YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.
Just try those co-CO-nuts,
Those walnuts and doughnuts.
There ain't many nuts like they.
We'll sell you two kinds of Red herring:
Dark brown and ball bearing,
But, YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.

LAST CHORUS: YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.
This song isn't pretty,
But still it's a ditty
That grows on you day by day;
And you can all do something for us:
Just join in the chorus. SPOKEN: All together!
YES! we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.

Words and music by Frank Silver & Irving Cohn, 1923.

Subject: Lyr Add: YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS
From:
Date: 18 Jan 97 - 05:17 PM

Well here we go (don't tell anyone I knew them!)

YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS
Words and music by Frank Silver & Irving Cohn

There's a fruit store on our street,
It's run by a Greek
And he keeps good things to eat,
But you should hear him speak
When you ask him anything, never answers 'No'
He just 'yesses' you to death and as he take your dough
He tells you;

Yes we have no bananas. we have no bananas today.
We've broad beans like bunions, cabbahges and honions
And all kinds of fruit and say,
We have an old fashioned tomahto a nice Jersey potahto
But yes we have no bananas
We have no bananas today

All spellings as per original manuscript.

I'm not aware of any other verses

Take care and sing it well - Pete - [e-mail]

Subject: lyric req.
From:
Date: 15 Jan 97 - 10:38 PM

does anyone have lyrics to Yes We Have No Banannas?