Yes, We Have No Bananas

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Yes, We Have No Bananas is the title of a popular song from the 1920s and was a major hit in 1923.

The term was originally coined by Jimmy Costas, a Greek American fruit shop owner in Lynbrook, as a response to the criticisms he received for selling vegetables but not bananas.

The idea caught the public imagination and was the title of a song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn, released in 1923. The song has been performed and recorded by many others, including Spike Jones & His City Slickers.

The song was the theme of the Outdoor Relief protests in Belfast in 1932. These were a unique example of Protestants and Catholics protesting together, and the song was used because it was one of the few non-sectarian songs that both communities knew. The song lent its title to a book about the depression in Belfast.^[1]

The term has been resurrected on many occasions, including during rationing in Britain during World War II meant that supplies of many products, including bananas, were very scarce. Shop owners would place signs stating "Yes, we have no bananas" in their shop windows in keeping with the general war spirit.

The song was also mentioned in the popular comic strip the Archie Comics.

It was also used by the media when Cyclone Larry destroyed a large proportion of Australia's banana crop in 2006 leading to a shortage for most of the year.

In the 1970s, Harry Chapin used this phrase in the chorus to his song 30,000 pounds of Bananas.

The song was the subject of a column by Sigmund Spaeth, who suggested that the melody could have been derived from a combination of parts of other songs including the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah by Handel, "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" and "I Dreamt I Slept in Marble Halls". Spaeth subsequently repeated his argument as an expert witness.