This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
The Banana Splits are a fictional musical group of four animal characters; Fleegle, a dog; Bingo, a gorilla; Drooper, a lion; and Snorky, an elephant; played by actors in costume miming to music created for them, who starred in their own successful television series The Banana Splits Adventure Hour.
The Banana Splits' bubblegum pop rock and roll was provided by studio professionals, including Al Kooper ("You're the Lovin' End"), Barry White ("Doin' the Banana Split"), and Gene Pitney ("Two Ton Tessie"). Jimmy Radcliffe provided his songs ("I'm Gonna Find a Cave", "Soul", "Don't Go Away Go-Go Girl", "Adam Had 'Em" and "The Show Must Go On") but did not contribute vocals to Splits recordings. The music director was music publisher Aaron Schroeder who picked the songs created by his staff writers. The intended main theme song was to be the Ritchie Adams and Tony Powers song "We're the Banana Splits" but the television and advertising executives thought the "Tra La La Song", another Adams composition co-written with prolific songwriter and producer Mark Barkan, was a catchier theme.
According to an interview in DISCoveries magazine, Adams and Barkan sang "Wait Til Tomorrow", "We're the Banana Splits" and "The Tra La La Song".[ citation needed ] David Mook produced all of the released tracks (co-producing the single sides Long Live Love and Pretty Painted Carousel with Aaron Schroeder), credited as "A Past, Present, and Future Production by David Mook for Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc." (Mook also co-wrote the theme songs for Chuck Barris's The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game ). Arranger Jack Eskew also orchestrated some of the Splits' tunes. Three singles, "The Tra La La Song", "Wait Till Tomorrow", and "Long Live Love" were released by the Splits along with an album, We're the Banana Splits. Two 45RPM EP records with four songs each were available via an offer on the back of Kellogg's cereal boxes. Two of the three singles as well as both EPs were issued with picture sleeves.
A bootleg recording of all the released Splits recordings was made and released on CD in 1995 on the Hollywood Library label (this CD was mastered from vinyl sources at a slightly increased speed, with excessive noise-reduction, resulting in a noticeable echo effect, especially at the ends of the songs). One song, "Wait Til Tomorrow", later appeared on a various artists bubblegum hits CD, sourced from the Hollywood Library bootleg. Most recently, an unauthorized vinyl pressing was issued in 2007 by Ripped Couch Records in the UK. This pressing has a different track listing than the original album, consisting of the first 16 tracks on the Hollywood Library bootleg CD (one track from the original album, "Soul" written by noted soul singer songwriter Jimmy Radcliffe, is missing from this version despite its being listed on the front cover). The audio was sourced from the Hollywood Library CD.
The Californian punk band The Dickies released a sped-up version of "The Tra La La Song" as the "Banana Splits (Tra La La Song)" which entered the UK charts in 1979.
The Bob Marley and the Wailers song "Buffalo Soldier", from the 1983 album Confrontation , features a melody similar to "The Tra La La Song" in its chorus. [1] [2] [3] The melody comes from the public domain song “Shortnin' Bread.”
In 1988, "I'm Gonna Find a Cave" was covered by Girl Trouble for the Sub Pop 200 compilation
The Mr. T Experience recorded "Don't Go Away Go-Go Girl" for the 1993 Banana Splits tribute album Banana Pad Riot on the Skull Duggery Label. Mr. T Experience also included "Don't Go Away Go-Go Girl" as a bonus track on their 1997 Lookout Records re-issue of the 1989 release Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood and as a hidden track on the Our Bodies Our Selves release, also from 1993. "Banana Pad Riot" also featured recordings from punk bands The Vindictives ("Two Ton Tessie"), Boris The Sprinkler ("We're the Banana Splits"), and The Young Fresh Fellows ("Doin' The Banana Split").
Liz Phair and Material Issue recorded "The Tra La La Song" for the 1995 compilation album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits . Their version was based on the Decca Records single version, with a different arrangement than the version used on the TV series, and also including an otherwise unheard additional verse.
Ralph's World covered "The Tra La La Song" in 2001 on their album At the Bottom of the Sea. [4]
In 2005, "I Enjoy Being A Boy" was covered by They Might Be Giants for their first podcast. The separate mp3 was released for free on their site. [5]
All Decca singles were released in mono mixes. "Long Live Love" and "Pretty Painted Carousel", along with the single version of "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)", were not included on the We're the Banana Splits album. The single version of "The Tra La La Song" is an entirely different arrangement and recording of the song from the one on the We're the Banana Splits album and the TV show and features an additional verse. Decca singles 32429 and 73256 were issued with picture sleeves; Decca 32391 was not—although foreign releases of the first single had picture sleeves.
"The Tra La La Song" and "Doin' The Banana Split" are the same takes included on the We're the Banana Splits album. However, as released here, they are presented in "twin-track" stereo mixes, with vocals in one channel and instruments in the other, not unlike some of the early Beatles stereo mixes. The stereo mixes of the other six songs are similar, but mixed less widely with both vocals and instruments closer to the center. These records were sold together as a Kellogg's cereal box offer and were released through Hanna-Barbera's premium division. They came in a mailer including unique outer artwork, showing Fleegle holding the two discs. Both were issued in art sleeves featuring drawings of the characters; advertisements promoting these discs on the back of contemporary Kellogg's cereal boxes showed slightly different artwork and had a copyright date of 1968, even though those 45rpm Extended Play records were released in 1969. In the prototype artwork for the second disc used in the cereal box ad, it is more clear that the Banana Buggy is driving atop the surface of a 45 RPM record.
All songs on the album are true stereo mixes. There are two minor cover variations. The earliest pressings had a dark green color and had no copyright notice, which on some copies was added on a small yellow sticker. Later pressings are a lighter shade of green and have a copyright notice printed directly in the lower left corner of the front cover.
Counterfeit versions of the album appeared in the late 1990s. They carry a white promo Decca label, but have all other references to Decca Records removed, including the front cover logo. The songs also fade out slightly earlier than on the original album.
This was an unauthorized CD reissue of the complete Banana Splits discography, including the We're the Banana Splits album, along with all other non-LP songs released as singles or EP tracks. Song titles in italics are not by the Banana Splits; they are from Here Come the Beagles, the soundtrack album from the Total TV cartoon series. All the Beagles tracks are in re-channeled stereo.
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its US label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president too. In 1937, anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca, and the link between the UK and US Decca label was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre.
The Banana Splits is an American children's television variety show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and featuring the Banana Splits, a fictional rock band composed of four costumed animal characters in red helmets with yellow crests. The costumed hosts are Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper, and Snorky.
A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the show's original cast. A cast recording featuring the first cast to perform a musical in a particular venue is known, for example, as an "original Broadway cast recording" (OBCR) or an "original London cast recording" (OLCR).
Empty Sky is the debut studio album by British singer-songwriter Elton John, released on 6 June 1969. It was not issued in the United States until January 1975, with different cover art, well after John's fame had been established internationally.
Odessa is the sixth studio album by the Bee Gees, a double vinyl LP released in February 1969, initially in an opulent red flocked cover with gold lettering. Despite reaching the UK Top Ten and the US Top 20, the album was not particularly well-received, though now is regarded by many as the most significant of the group's Sixties albums. An ambitious project, originally intended as a concept album on the loss of a fictional ship in 1899, it created tension and disagreements in the band regarding the work's direction; finally, a dispute over which song to release as a single led to Robin Gibb temporarily leaving the group.
The Magnificent Moodies is the 1965 debut album by British rock band the Moody Blues, released on Decca Records.
Classics selected by Brian Wilson is a compilation of songs by The Beach Boys and released through Capitol Records in mid-2002. It was compiled by Brian Wilson himself that February. It includes a new recording of an unreleased 1970s track, "California Feelin'" not by The Beach Boys but Wilson and his live band.
"Rubber Band" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was recorded in October 1966 following Bowie's dismissal from Pye Records and helped secure him a record contract with Decca-subsidiary Deram Records, who released it as a single in the United Kingdom on 2 December of the same year. A departure from the mod-style sound of his previous releases, "Rubber Band" displays a style informed by vaudeville and British music hall – influenced particularly by British actor Anthony Newley. The lyrics tell the story of a man who goes off to war and, upon his return, finds his lover fell for a brass band conductor.
The songs from the 1939 musical fantasy film The Wizard of Oz have taken their place among the most famous and instantly recognizable American songs of all time, and the film's principal song, "Over the Rainbow", is perhaps the most famous song ever written for a film. Music and lyrics were by Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, who won an Academy Award for Best Song for "Over the Rainbow."
Wallace Collection were a Belgian pop rock group active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They are best known for their 1969 international hit "Daydream".
This is the complete discography of the fictional music group Alvin and the Chipmunks.
"The Tra La La Song " is a 1968 pop song, which was the theme song for the children's television program The Banana Splits Adventure Hour. Originally released by Decca Records on the album titled We're the Banana Splits, the single release peaked at No. 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 8, 1969, and No. 94 in Canada, on January 20, 1969. The writing of the song is credited to Mark Barkan and Ritchie Adams, who were the show's music directors.
Marcus Barkan was an American songwriter and record producer. He was also a musical director for the television show The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, which aired between September 7, 1968, and September 5, 1970, lasting two seasons, on NBC.
This Is My Life is a 1968 album by Shirley Bassey. The mid to late sixties was a period of declining popularity for traditional pop. How much the changing tastes in popular music directly affected Bassey's record sales is difficult to quantify; but her record sales had been faltering since the latter part of the mid 1960s, and the album failed to chart.
James Radcliffe was an American soul singer, composer, arranger, conductor and record producer.
"I'm Gonna Find a Cave" is a song written in 1965 by Jimmy Radcliffe and Buddy Scott.
Connie & Clyde – Hit Songs of the 30s is a studio album recorded by U. S. Entertainer Connie Francis.
Ricky Lancelotti, also known as Rick Lancelot, was a singer best known for his work with Frank Zappa in 1973. Frank Zappa songs featuring Lancelotti's vocals can be found on the albums Over-Nite Sensation, The Lost Episodes and Läther.
"Pretty Girls Everywhere" is a song written by Eugene Church and Thomas Williams.
A banana split is a dessert that includes a banana and ice cream.