"30,000 Pounds Of Bananas," sometimes spelled "Thirty Thousand Pounds Of Bananas," is a

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

song by

Harry Chapin Harold Forster Chapin (; December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his folk rock and pop rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. Chapin, a Grammy A ...

from his 1974 album, ''

Verities & Balderdash ''Verities & Balderdash'' is the fourth studio album by the American singer/songwriter Harry Chapin, released in 1974. (see 1974 in music). "Cat's in the Cradle" was Chapin's highest-charting single, finishing at number 38 for the year on the 1974 ...

.'' The song became more popular in its live extended recording from Chapin's

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

concert album, '' Greatest Stories Live'' that started the phrase "Harry, it sucks." The song is based on an actual truck accident that occurred in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

, in 1965.

Incident

On March 18, 1965, a 33-year-old

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; a HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

, Eugene P. Sesky, was on his way to deliver a load of

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

. Sesky, an employee of Fred Carpentier—operator of a small truck line in Scranton—was returning from the boat piers at

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.A&P produce Warehouse in South Side. Sesky was driving a 1950s Brockway diesel

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...

tractor with a

semi-trailer A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. In the United States, the term is also used to refer to the combination of a truck and a semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer. A large proportion of a semi-trailer's weight is supported by a trac ...

and was headed down Rt. 307 when he lost control. That section of Rt. 307 contains a two-mile descent extending from

Lake Scranton Lake Scranton is an American reservoir that is located in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, It has a running track which surrounds it. It is owned by the Pennsylvania American Water Company, which supplies the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania wit ...

to the bottom of Moosic Street that includes a drop in elevation of more than in less than . Sesky was unable to control the truck's speed down the hill due to a mechanical failure, variously attributed to the truck's brake system or its clutch. As a result, the truck cruised into Scranton at approximately , sideswiping a number of cars before it crashed into a house at the southwest corner of Moosic St and S. Irving Ave (), close to the bottom of the hill. Witnesses reported that Sesky did everything possible to avoid pedestrians and other motorists, including climbing out onto the truck's running board to try to warn people, and some have suggested that he may have deliberately flipped the truck over to avoid striking either bystanders or an automotive service station on Moosic Street that could have exploded in flames, causing a greater loss of life. Sesky was thrown from the truck and killed and bananas were spilled and strewn when the rig came to rest; 15 others were injured but only Sesky died. The road was closed for cleanup as Johnson's Towing Company helped out in the recovery. Trucks under 21,000 lbs were required to go down the hill in first, low gear. Trucks over 21,000 lb (10.5 t) are no longer allowed to travel that route (they must use Interstate 380 via

Dunmore Dunmore from the ga, Dún Mór, link=no or gd, Dùn Mòr, link=no, meaning "great fort", may refer to: People * Dunmore (surname) * Earl of Dunmore, a title in the Peerage of Scotland, includes a list of earls * Countess of Dunmore (disambiguat ...

Song

The song portrays a fictional account of the incident played in the form of a country song. With each verse, the song gets faster to, as Chapin explained in the live recording, "build up intensity and excitement." During the chorus, Chapin sings the phrase "thirty-thousand pounds" followed by Big John Wallace singing the bass line "of bananas." During concerts, the audience was encouraged to shout this refrain.

Content

A young truck driver is driving "just after dark" during his "second job" to deliver a load of bananas to Scranton, which is described as a " coal-scarred city where children play without despair in back-yard slag piles," the population of which consumes about of bananas daily. While approaching Scranton, he passes a sign he "should have seen" reading: "Shift to

low gear A gear train is a mechanical system formed by mounting gears on a frame so the teeth of the gears engage. Gear teeth are designed to ensure the pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each other without slipping, providing a smooth transmission ...

or fifty-dollar fine, my friend," because he is too busy thinking about seeing his wife after his trip. He begins to travel down the "two-mile drop" road to the bottom of the hill. Suddenly, the truck begins to go faster down the hill, and the driver tries to apply the brakes, only to discover that they are not working. He says, "

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

!" who ironically is "the only Man who could save him now" as the load of bananas push against the truck causing it to pick up speed. Cruising into Scranton at "about ninety miles an hour," he almost strikes a passing bus. The driver then prays twice to God to make the event all a dream before he "sideswiped nineteen neat-parked cars / Clipped off thirteen

telephone poles ''Telephone Poles'' is the second book of poetry written by American writer John Updike. Publication The collection was published by Alfred A. Knopf, Knopf in 1963. Reception In ''The New York Times'', critic X.J. Kennedy wrote, "Of younger w ...

/ Hit two houses, bruised eight trees / And Blue-Crossed seven people." He is killed and

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

in the accident, and of the hill is smeared with his load of bananas. The song's epilogue tells the story how Chapin first heard of the event aboard a

Greyhound bus Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and p ...

coming out of Scranton some months later. An old man sitting next to Chapin implores him to imagine "30,000 pounds of mashed bananas." Many details in the song correspond closely to the actual incident, but others are invented or fictionalized. In particular, Sesky was not actually decapitated in the accident.

Alternate endings

In the live performance from the album '' Greatest Stories Live,'' Chapin sings two alternate endings to the song he originally had in mind, explaining to the audience that the rest of the band was less than enthusiastic about them, with his brothers Tom and Steve each offering the summary dismissal, "Harry, it sucks!" The first alternate ending uses the 1923 novelty song "

Yes! We Have No Bananas "Yes! We Have No Bananas" is an American novelty song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn published March 23, 1923. It became a major hit in 1923 (placing No. 1 for five weeks) when it was recorded by Billy Jones, Billy Murray, Arthur Hall, Irving ...

" as the punchline of the song. The second ending is described by Chapin as a "country-western" ending about "motherhood", because the song "already had a truck." It deals with a young mother crying while watching her child sleeping. The woman is presumably the truck driver's widow and, because of her sorrow over the accident, "though she lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania / she never, ever eats bananas." During concerts, Chapin divided the audience during this ending, usually turning it into a contest between men and women with regard to singing skill. The second alternate ending has everyone sing "of Bananas!" in harmony, swelling to a climax and cutting off. A third alternate ending surfaced later, in which Chapin would often introduce with a monologue about Donny and

Marie Osmond Olive Marie Osmond (born October 13, 1959) is an American singer, actress, television host, and a member of the show business family the Osmonds. Although she was never part of her family's singing group, she gained success as a country and pop ...

, and the technical definition of the word "

sucks Suck may refer to: * Suction, the force exerted by a partial vacuum *.sucks, an Internet top-level domain Arts and entertainment Music * Suck (band), a South African hard rock group * Suck, drummer for the 1990s Japanese punk band Teengenerate ...

". The third alternate ending is a parody of a Chiquita banana commercial, done in " Jimmy Buffett style," with the participation of the whole band. The ending is cut short by Big John singing the first verse of "

Taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

" in the form of an upbeat disco style that concludes with Chapin telling him "it sucks." ''The Bottom Line'' CD features the four endings along with "Final Concert." Other recorded examples of the song with all four endings include performances at Knoxville Memorial Stadium on March 7, 1979; the Coffee Break Concert broadcast on

WMMS WMMS (100.7 FM) – branded ''100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard'' – is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Widely regarded as one of the most influential rock s ...

Cleveland on December 5, 1979; and the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

concert on April 1, 1981. "Harry, it sucks" became a popular

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

among Chapin's fans, to the point where

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

s sporting the phrase would be offered at his concerts.

References

{{authority control 1974 songs Bananas in popular culture Songs about truck driving Harry Chapin songs Scranton, Pennsylvania Songs based on American history Songs written by Harry Chapin Vehicle wreck ballads Song recordings produced by Paul Leka