Apples and Bananas

"Apples and Bananas" or "Oopples and Boo-noo-noos"[1] is a traditional[2] North American children's song that plays with the vowels of words. The first verse usually begins unaltered:

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

For the instrumental composition released by Lawrence Welk and His Orchestra, see Apples and Bananas (instrumental).
"Apples and Bananas"
Song
from the album One Light, One Sun
Released1985
GenreChildren's
Songwriter(s)Traditional

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⟩ (/eɪ/), ⟨e⟩ (/iː/), ⟨i⟩ (/aɪ/), ⟨o⟩ (/oʊ/), and ⟨u⟩ (/uː/), although potentially any English vowel can be used. For example:

Scottish musicians Cilla Fisher & Artie Trezise included the song on their 1982 album and book The Singing Kettle.[3]

Canadian musician Raffi released a version of the song on his album One Light, One Sun (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 favourites" performed by Sandra Beech from her 1982 album Inch by Inch in 1984 in the Ottawa Citizen.[4]

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.

Sesame Street released an animated version in 2019 featuring Elmo, Abby Cadabby, and Grover singing the song.[5]

See also

Sources
  1. Smith, John A. The Reading Teacher, Vol. 53, No. 8, May 2000. "Singing and songwriting support early literacy instruction Archived March 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine". Accessed 10 March 2012.
  2. "One Light, One Sun", AllMusic.com.
  3. Discogs KOP-10, Kettle & Bridge Records
  4. Ottawa Citizen. "Entertainers promise music, magic, mimicry". May 29, 1984, p. 43. Retrieved on July 3, 2014.
  5. YouTube.com/Sesame Street Jul 31, 2019



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