__NOTOC__ ''Bananaphone'' is a children's

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

released by

Raffi 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 " ...

and Michael Creber in 1994. The album is best known for its title track, which uses

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

s such as "It's a phone with appeal!" (a peel) and

nonce word A nonce word (also called an occasionalism) is a lexeme created for a single occasion to solve an immediate problem of communication.''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language''. Ed. David Crystal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ...

s like "bananular" and "interactive-odular" as Raffi extols the virtues of his unique telephone. The song "C-A-N-A-D-A" was originally recorded by

Stompin' Tom Connors Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was a Canadian country and folk singer-songwriter. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, he is credited with writing more than 300 songs and has rele ...

under the title "Cross Canada". The album was certified Gold by the

CRIA A ''cria'' (pronounced ) is a juvenile llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. Etymology The term comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, ''crya'' (pronounced ), was coined by British sailors who explored C ...

in March 2002.

Track listing

# "Bananaphone" (Creber, Raffi) 3:12 # "Shake a Toe" (Creber, Raffi) 2:20 # "The World We Love" (Creber, Raffi) 3:23 # "Slow Day" (Creber, Raffi) 3:25 # "The Changing Garden of Mr. Bell" (Hubbard, Silversher) 4:07 # "Naturally" (Creber, Raffi) 3:04 # "Spring Flowers" nstrumental(Raffi) 2:40 # "C-A-N-A-D-A" ( Connors) 2:50 # "

Michael Row the Boat Ashore "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (also called "Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore", "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore", or "Michael, Row That Gospel Boat") is a traditional African-American spiritual first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helen ...

" (Traditional) 3:25 # "First Peoples" (Creber, Raffi) 4:37 # "Dee Myth" nstrumental(Raffi) 2:21 # "Cowlit Night" (Raffi) 3:21 # "The Gorilla Song" (Knowles, Knowles) 2:10 # " Simple Gifts" (Traditional) 2:15 # "

Down by the Riverside "Down by the Riverside" (also known as "Ain't Gonna Study War No More" and "Gonna lay down my burden") is an African-American spiritual. Its roots date back to before the American Civil War, though it was first published in 1918 in ''Plantation ...

" (Traditional) 3:13 # "The Shmenge Polka" nstrumental(A Tribute to the late

John Candy John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its '' SCTV'' ser ...

) (Raffi) 2:07

Cover versions

The album's title track has been covered in several different musical genres. Examples include a barbershop version, several heavy metal versions, a

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

version and a bluegrass/

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

version by

Rhonda Vincent Rhonda Lea Vincent (born July 13, 1962) is an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Vincent's music career began when she was a child in her family's band The Sally Mountain Show, and it has spanned more than four de ...

released on the album ''Sing Along with Putumayo'' released by

Putumayo World Music Putumayo World Music is a New Orleans-based record label that specializes in compilations of world music, jazz and blues. History Dan Storper founded Putumayo in 1975 as a retail store in New York City featuring handicrafts from around the wo ...

. The Chilean children's show ''

Cachureos ''Cachureos'' (Chilean Spanish for ''odds and ends'') was a Chilean television program created in 1983 by Marcelo Hernández. Show Cachureos is like a game show where the host, "Tío Marcelo", gives prizes to the kids who win the competitions. ...

'' released a cover of ''Bananaphone'' called "Teléfono" on its 1996 album, "La Mosca".

Flash Animation

On May 4 2004, Dave Teatro and Will from "The Friend Society" released a

Flash animation Adobe Flash animation or Adobe Flash cartoon (formerly Macromedia Flash animation, Macromedia Flash cartoon, FutureSplash animation, and FutureSplash cartoon) is an animation that is created with the Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional) p ...

Newgrounds Newgrounds is an entertainment website and company founded by Tom Fulp in 1995. It hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and offices in Glenside, Pennsylvania. I ...

titled "Banana Phone". The animation depicts a group of three men. One of the men hears the song Bananaphone playing inside of his head, but nobody else can hear the song. He later goes insane from hearing it for hours on end, then collapses on the ground dead. The second man checks on the body, then the Bananaphone song starts playing in his head. The third man comes into contact with the second man, then the Bananaphone song starts playing in his head. The third man punches the second man to death as revenge for getting the Bananaphone song stuck into his head. Shortly after the animation was released, it reached the all time Top 50, and remained there until November 2004. By then, it had reached over one million views. The animation had gone viral, and was posted on many other websites.

References

{{Authority control 1994 albums Bananas in popular culture MCA Records albums Raffi (musician) albums Rounder Records albums Songs about telephones