Juanita Banana (song)

"Juanita Banana"
Single by The Peels
B-side	"Fun"
Released	1966
Recorded	1966
Label	Karate 522 Stateside 513 (UK)
Songwriter(s)	Tash Howard Murray Kenton
Producer(s)	"A (Tash) Howard/Smith Production"

"Juanita Banana" is a novelty song adaptation from Mexican folk music by Tash Howard and Murray Kenton. ^[1] The song, which tells the story of a Mexican banana farmer's daughter with operatic ambitions and whose chorus is an adaptation of "Caro Nome" from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto , was originally released in the United States in 1966.

The Peels

The original release of "Juanita Banana" was performed by The Peels, a studio group assembled by co-writer Tash Howard, who also co-produced the single. The Peels consisted of Gail Allan (22), Bill Spilka (25), Harvey Davis (23), and Harold Swart. ^[2] Howard also wrote "Juanita Banana Part 2" for The Peels as a follow-up release later in the same year.

The record by The Peels charted on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #59 in 1966. ^[3]

The Verdi-inspired chorus of the Peels recording was sampled later that year in the Dickie Goodman record "Batman & His Grandmother".^{[ citation needed ]}

Other versions

Henri Salvador, Luis Aguilé, Los Tres Sudamericanos  [ es ], Paola Neri, Het Cocktail Trio  [ nl ], Los Yaki, Quartetto Cetra and Bukasový Masív were among the many artists who recorded non-English cover versions of the song.

The song was also covered by Freddie & The Dreamers on their 1967 album ‘King Freddie & His Dreaming Knights’.

Notes

1. "Hills, The – Juanita Banana / Fun (Austrian release)". Discogs.com. 1966. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
2. "The Peels Discography". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
3. "The Peels Juanita Banana Chart History | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2022.

External links

• The Juanita Banana phenomenon at Poparchives