"Apples and Bananas" or "Oopples and Boo-noo-noos" is a traditional North American children's song that plays with the vowels of words. The first

verse Verse may refer to: Poetry * Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry * Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza * Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme * Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...

usually begins unaltered:

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas. I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.

The following verses replace most or all vowels with one given vowel sound (the letters A, E, I, O, and U, except for "Y" (which is sometimes a vowel or consonant). It is usually each of the long vowels sounds of ⟨a⟩ (), ⟨e⟩ (), ⟨i⟩ (), ⟨o⟩ (), and ⟨u⟩ (), although potentially any English vowel can be used. For example:

Ay lake tay ate, ate, ate ayples aind bah-nay-nays. Ay lake tay ate, ate, ate ayples aind bah-nay-nays.

Scottish musicians Cilla Fisher & Artie Trezise in 1981 on their album and book "The Singing Kettle and later Canadian musician Raffi released a version of the song on his album ''

One Light, One Sun Raffi Cavoukian, ( hy, Րաֆֆի, born July 8, 1948), known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is a Canadian singer-lyricist and author of Armenian descent born in Egypt, best known for his children's music. He developed his career as a " ...

'' (1985). This version only changed the stressed vowels; that is, the vowels in "eat", "apples", and the last two syllables of "bananas". The song was described as one of several "old favorites" by the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'' in 1984.''

''.
"Entertainers promise music, magic, mimicry"
May 29, 1984, p. 43. Retrieved on July 3, 2014. The song was also sung on three early episodes of the children's television program '' Barney & Friends'', as well as on '' Rock with Barney'', the final video in the predecessor series '' Barney & the Backyard Gang''. As with Raffi, Barney's version also only changed the stressed vowels. The Wiggles sang a version of the song on their 2014 album, and it's now one of their most popular songs.

Sources

American folk songs Traditional North American children's songs Songs about plants Songwriter unknown Year of song unknown {{song-stub

See also

Sources