banana phone

banana phone: another glitch in the Matrix
 

Bananaphone is the name of a children's album released in 1994. The title track's lyrics describes the bananaphone, a portmanteau of the words banana and telephone. The song uses many puns ("It's a phone with appeal!") and nonce words like "bananular" and "interactive-odular" as Raffi extols the virtues of his unique telephone.

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 (double speed) version ala Alvin and the Chipmunks. This version became a staple in 2004 on the Opie and Anthony radio program. The show still uses it today, though rarely. Another snippet of the Bananaphone song is occasionally used at the end of some segments of The Colbert Report.

The double speed 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.

The song became an internet cult sensation when a flash movie was made for the site Newgrounds. It depicted a man hearing the song over and over in his head, eventually driving him insane and dying much to the shock of his friend who is then also hit with the curse. Many music videos for the song have also been made in games like Garry's Mod and Team Fortress 2. The sped-up version has also been used in a flash movie featuring the badgers from Badger Badger Badger.

Track listing

  1. Bananaphone (Creber, Raffi) 3:12
  2. Shake a Toe (Creber, Raffi) 2:57
  3. The World We Love (Creber, Raffi) 3:23
  4. Slow Day (Creber, Raffi) 4:02
  5. The Changing Garden of Mr. Bell (Hubbard, Silversher) 4:07
  6. Naturally (Creber, Raffi) 3:04
  7. Spring Flowers (Raffi) 3:16
  8. C-A-N-A-D-A (Connors) 3:28
  9. Michael, Row the Boat Ashore (Traditional) 3:25
  10. First Peoples (Creber, Raffi) 4:37
  11. Dee Myth (Raffi) 2:59
  12. Cowlit Night (Raffi) 3:16
  13. The Gorilla Song (Knowles, Knowles) 2:10
  14. Simple Gifts (Traditional) 2:51
  15. Down by the Riverside (Traditional) 3:13
  16. The Shmenge Polka (Raffi) 2:07
  17. The Evil Man (Traditional) 8:34