"I've Never Seen a Straight Banana" is a

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

from 1926, written by Ted Waite. A short film was made in 1926 in the

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. In 1919 and 1920, de Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofi ...

sound-on-film process with

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

comedian Dick Henderson (1891–1958) singing it. In 1927, it was made popular by

Fred Waring Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, choral director, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to ...

and his band

Waring's Pennsylvanians Waring's Pennsylvanians was a dance band founded at Penn State University by Fred Waring. First named the Collegians, the group was formed in 1918 at Penn State by the brothers Fred and Tom Waring and their friends Freddy Buck and Poley McClint ...

who recorded it.Red Hot Jazz entry
/ref> Later versions were recorded by The Happiness Boys, Jimmy Edwards, Tiny Tim (recorded in 1976 by producer

Richard Barone Richard Barone is an American rock musician who first gained attention as frontman for the Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and record producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created concert events ...

, released 2009), and

Brita Borg Brita Kerstin Gunvor Borg (10 June 1926 – 4 May 2010) was a Swedish singer, actress, and variety show artist. Her variety show career spanned from 1943 into the 1970s, while her singing career trailed away at the end of the 1960s. However, ...

. A series of films, entitled "Together: A Series of Films by

Jeff Feuerzeig Jeff Feuerzeig (born 1964) is an American film director and screenwriter best known for ''The Devil and Daniel Johnston'', his profile of cult musician and outsider artist Daniel Johnston, for which he was awarded the Directing prize for Document ...

" (presented by

Google+ Google+ (sometimes written as Google Plus, stylized as G+ or g+) was a Social networking service, social network owned and operated by Google until it ceased operations in 2019. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challe ...

and Pride

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

) used "I've Never Seen a Straight Banana" as the opening and closing music for Pride Toronto's 2012 celebration.

References

1926 films Phonofilm short films 1926 songs Novelty songs Bananas in popular culture Songs about plants {{1920s-song-stub