He begins to travel down the "two-mile drop" road to the bottom of the hill. On March 18, 1965 Gene Sesky of Scranton … about thirty thousand pounds of bananas. He was a … [1], The song's epilogue tells the story how Chapin first heard of the event aboard a Greyhound bus coming out of Scranton some months later. Facts about “30,000 Pounds of Bananas” The song was composed by Harry Chapin following a truck-carrying-bananas accident that took place in 1965, in Pennsylvania. But food spills happen more often than you may think. Chapin's debut album, I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Yes, just about thirty thousand pounds (scream it again, John). "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" is a song by Harry Chapin. 30,000 Pounds of Bananas by Harry Chapin song meaning, lyric interpretation, video and chart position SCRANTON, Pa. — SCRANTON -- It was a horrific wreck many people still remember, one that inspired a Harry Chapin song. WikiProject Songs (Rated Stub-class) This article is within the scope of WikiProject Songs, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of songs on Wikipedia. Other recorded examples of the song with all four endings include performances at Knoxville Memorial Stadium on March 7, 1979; the Coffee Break Concert broadcast on WMMS Cleveland on December 5, 1979; and the Boston University concert on April 1, 1981. In particular, Sesky was not actually decapitated in the accident.[1]. "Harry, it sucks" became a popular catchphrase among Chapin's fans, to the point where T-shirts sporting the phrase would be offered at his concerts. The first alternate ending uses the 1923 novelty song "Yes! It was just after dark when the truck started down the hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania. During concerts, the audience was encouraged to shout this refrain. He subsequently recorded it at Connecticut Recording Studios, with Paul Leka as the producer. Talk:30,000 Pounds of Bananas. 30,000 Pounds of Bananas (Live) - Harry Chapin The song is played with a capo that throughout the song climbs the frets. "30,000 Pounds Of Bananas," sometimes spelled "Thirty Thousand Pounds Of Bananas," is a folk rock song by Harry Chapin from his 1974 album, Verities & Balderdash. About “30,000 Pounds Of Bananas” In 1965, Gene Sesky crashed his semi truck in Scranton, PA while carrying 30,000 pounds of bananas. It was just after dark when the truck started down The hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas Create and get +5 IQ. 30,000 POUNDS OF BANANAS Harry Chapin It was just after dark when the truck started down the hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania. The song tells the story of real-life truck accident which happened on March 18, 1965, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He passed a sign that he should have seen, saying "shift to low gear, a fifty dollar fine my friend." The Bottom Line CD features the four endings along with "Final Concert." The song became more popular in its live extended recording from Chapin's 1976 concert album, Greatest Stories Livethat started the phrase "Harry, it sucks". … Harry Chapin - 30,000 Pounds of Bananas Lyrics. With each verse, the song gets faster to, as Chapin explained in the live recording, "build up intensity and excitement." Do you know any background info about this track? A food spill in Scranton, Penn., once inspired singer-songwriter, Harry Chapin to write a song about a truck driver who lost control and spilled 30,000 pounds of bananas. A third alternate ending surfaced later, in which Chapin would often introduce with a monologue about Donny and Marie Osmond, and the technical definition of the word "sucks". That is, it’s funny until you find out that it was based on a real-life story, and that a real trucker lost a real life and left behind a wife and children. In the live performance from the album Greatest Stories Live, Chapin sings two alternate endings to the song he originally had in mind, explaining to the audience that the rest of the band was less than enthusiastic about them, with his brothers Tom and Steve each offering the summary dismissal, "Harry, it sucks!" He was a young driver, Just out on his second job. Listen to 30,000 Lbs. Yes, just about thirty thousand pounds (scream it again, John). That section of Rt. He says, "Christ!" The road was closed for cleanup[4] as Johnson's Towing Company helped out in the recovery. 30000 Pounds Of Bananas Harry Chapin Top Harry Chapin Lyrics Cat's In The Cradle Taxi Dirty Old Man Tangled Up Puppet I Wonder What Would Happen To This World Flowers Are Red Shooting Star Sequel A Better Place To Be Corey's Coming — "30,000 Pounds of Bananas," Harry Chapin. He was a young driver, just out on his second job. It is from his 1974 Verities & Balderdash album. The song is based on an actual incident: on March 18, 1965, a 35 year old truck driver named Eugene P. Seski lost control of his big truck that was carry a cargo of bananas to Scranton. Sesky was unable to control the truck's speed down the hill due to a mechanical failure, variously attributed to the truck's brake system[1][4] or its clutch. Trucks over 21,000 lb (10.5 t) are no longer allowed to travel that route (they must use Interstate 380 via Dunmore). A young truck driver is driving "just after dark" during his "second job" to deliver a load of bananas to Scranton, which is described as a "coal-scarred city where children play without despair in back-yard slag piles," the population of which consumes about 30,000 pounds (14 tonnes) of bananas daily. Scrobbling is when Last.fm tracks the music you listen to and automatically adds it to your music profile. Listen to 30,000 Pounds Of Bananas by Harry Chapin, 3,118 Shazams, featuring on '70s Singer-Songwriter Essentials, and Tearjerkers Essentials Apple Music playlists. On March 18, 1965, a 33-year-old truck driver, Eugene P. Sesky, was on his way to deliver a load of bananas to Scranton, Pennsylvania. The song became more popular in its live extended recording from Chapin's 1976 concert album, Greatest Stories Live that started the phrase "Harry, it sucks." He is killed and decapitated in the accident, and 400 yards (370 metres) of the hill is smeared with his load of bananas. The second alternate ending has everyone sing "of Bananas!" Carrying thirty thousand pounds (hit it Big John) of bananas. about thirty thousand pounds of bananas. [3] As a result, the truck cruised into Scranton at approximately 90 mph (140 km/h), sideswiping a number of cars before it crashed into a house[1] at the southwest corner of Moosic St and S. Irving Ave (.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}41°24′00″N 75°39′18″W / 41.4000°N 75.6550°W / 41.4000; -75.6550Coordinates: 41°24′00″N 75°39′18″W / 41.4000°N 75.6550°W / 41.4000; -75.6550),[3] close to the bottom of the hill. In a famous song the late Harry Chapin (big hit - "Cats In The Cradle") described a tragic incident about a truck crashing on Moosic Street in Scranton called "30,000 Pounds Of Bananas." E He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide, Riding on his fear-hunched back A* With every one of those yellow-green, D D/C# Bm E I'm telling you, thirty thousand pounds of bananas. A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. Harry Chapin, c 1980. I lost 9 pounds by pooping by 30000PoundsofBananas in ibs [–] 30000PoundsofBananas [ S ] 0 points 1 point 2 points 2 months ago (0 children) I have a colonoscopy on Thursday. Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas. about thirty thousand pounds of bananas. Lyrics for 30,000 Pounds of Bananas by Harry Chapin. Connect your Spotify account to your Last.fm account and scrobble everything you listen to, from any Spotify app on any device or platform. Watch the video for 30,000 Pounds of Bananas from Harry Chapin's Verities … Cruising into Scranton at "about ninety miles an hour," he almost strikes a passing bus. He passed a sign that he should have seen, saying "shift to low gear, a fifty dollar fine my friend." 30,000 pounds of bananas User Name: Remember Me: Password : Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! It is believed his clutch failed. The second ending is described by Chapin as a "country-western" ending about "motherhood", because the song "already had a truck." The song is based on an actual truck accident that occurred in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1965. Trucks over 21,000 lbs were required to go down the hill in first, low gear. Of Bananas by Harry Chapin, 2,766 Shazams, featuring on '70s Singer-Songwriter Essentials, and Tearjerkers Essentials Apple Music playlists. "30,000 Pounds Of Bananas," sometimes spelled "Thirty Thousand Pounds Of Bananas," is a folk rock song by Harry Chapin from his 1974 album, Verities & Balderdash. Jump to navigation Jump to search. The song is based on an actual truck accident that occurred in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1965.[1][2][3]. The load was destined for the A&P produce Warehouse in South Side. The song became more popular in its live extended recording from Chapin's 1976 concert album, Greatest Stories Live that started the phrase "Harry, it sucks." The song was released in 1974, 9 years after the banana truck accident. The driver then prays twice to God to make the event all a dream before he "sideswiped nineteen neat-parked cars / Clipped off thirteen telephone poles / Hit two houses, bruised eight trees / And Blue-Crossed seven people." Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas. Sesky was thrown from the truck and killed[1] and bananas were spilled and strewn when the rig came to rest; 15 others were injured but only Sesky died. The third alternate ending is a parody of a Chiquita banana commercial, done in "Jimmy Buffett style," with the participation of the whole band. On paper the idea of having a giant 70-mile long yard sale through the hills and valleys of Southern Kings County is laudable: you get a whole bunch of people out and about on a nice fall day, spending a little bit of money, eating in restaurants, buying gasoline and generally giving a boot to the local economy now that the tourists, by and large, have gone home. He passed a sign that he should have seen, saying "shift to low gear, a fifty dollar fine my friend." The song portrays a fictional account of the incident played in the form of a country song. "30,000 Pounds Of Bananas," sometimes spelled "Thirty Thousand Pounds Of Bananas," is a folk rock song by Harry Chapin from his 1974 album, Verities & Balderdash. It deals with a young mother crying while watching her child sleeping. References "30,000 Pounds of Bananas", sometimes spelled "Thirty-Thousand Pounds of Bananas", is a country folk song by Harry Chapin from his 1974album, Verities & Balderdash. Go directly to shout page. (thanks, Cindy Funk) There is something undeniably, inexplicably funny about Harry Chapin’s story of a tractor-trailer driver smearing a city with 30,000 pounds of bananas as he wreaks havoc at 90 miles per hour. Yes, just about thirty thousand pounds (scream it again, John) . Harry Chapin (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer and songwriter. The woman is presumably the truck driver's widow and, because of her sorrow over the accident, "though she lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania / she never, ever eats bananas." Start the wiki, It was just after dark when the truck started downthe hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania.Carrying thirty thousand pounds of…. Carrying thirty thousand pounds (hit it Big John) of bananas. in harmony, swelling to a climax and cutting off. While approaching Scranton, he passes a sign he "should have seen" reading: "Shift to low gear or fifty-dollar fine, my friend," because he is too busy thinking about seeing his wife after his trip. 307 contains a two-mile descent extending from Lake Scranton to the bottom of Moosic Street that includes a drop in elevation of more than 500 ft (150 m) in less than 1.5 mi (2.4 km). During the chorus, Chapin sings the phrase "thirty-thousand pounds" followed by Big John Wallace singing the bass line "of bananas." Javascript is required to view shouts on this page. We Have No Bananas" as the punchline of the song. There is no strumming pattern for this song yet. 30,000 Pounds of Bananas. Witnesses reported that Sesky did everything possible to avoid pedestrians and other motorists,[3] including climbing out onto the truck's running board to try to warn people,[1] and some have suggested that he may have deliberately flipped the truck over to avoid striking either bystanders or an automotive service station[7] on Moosic Street that could have exploded in flames, causing a greater loss of life. The song became more popular in its live extended recording from Chapin's 1976 concert album, Greatest Stories Live … Learn how and when to remove this template message, "It wasn't just about 30,000 pounds of bananas: Real accident 36 years ago in Scranton took the life of a truck driver, injured several other people and became the basis for a popular song", "Whizzo World Blog: Harry Chapin's 30,000 Pounds of Bananas", "The 'Banana Truck' Crash: 50 Years Later", "1 Killed and 15 Injured in Runaway Accident", "30,000 Pounds Of Bananas by Harry Chapin in Moosic Street, Scranton, Pennsylvania", Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=30,000_Pounds_of_Bananas&oldid=1000738520, Articles needing additional references from August 2016, All articles needing additional references, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 16 January 2021, at 13:30. Carrying thirty thousand pounds (hit it Big John) of bananas. And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits For everyone in that coal-scarred city Where children play without despair In backyard slag-piles and folks manage to eat each day About thirty thousand pounds of bananas. Suddenly, the truck begins to go faster down the hill, and the driver tries to apply the brakes, only to discover that they are not working. Some forums can only be seen by registered members. "30,000 Pounds Of Bananas," sometimes spelled "Thirty Thousand Pounds Of Bananas," is a folk rock song by Harry Chapin from his 1974 album, Verities & Balderdash. who ironically is "the only Man who could save him now" as the load of bananas push against the truck causing it to pick up speed. The ending is cut short by Big John singing the first verse of "Taxi" in the form of an upbeat disco style that concludes with Chapin telling him "it sucks.". 307 when he lost control. Yes, just about thirty thousand pounds (scream it again, John). Watch the video for 30,000 Lbs. [1][6] Sesky was driving a 1950s Brockway diesel truck tractor with a 35 ft (11 m) semi-trailer and was headed down Rt. Some user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. Carrying thirty thousand pounds (hit it Big John) of bananas. of Bananas by Harry Chapin for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. Song information for 30,000 Pounds of Bananas - Harry Chapin on AllMusic ", Many details in the song correspond closely to the actual incident,[7] but others are invented or fictionalized. 30,000 Pounds Of Bananas Words and Music by Harry Chapin NOTE: The chords below represent the true chords for this song, however for guitar players, a nice trick (that Harry used) is to play the first 3 verses with a CAPO on the FIRST fret, the second verse with the CAPO on the SECOND fret and the third verse with the CAPO … The song became more popular in its live extended recording from Chapin's 1976 concert album, Greatest Stories Live that started the phrase "Harry, it sucks." [1][4][5] Sesky, an employee of Fred Carpentier—operator of a small truck line in Scranton—was returning from the boat piers at Newark, New Jersey, where he had picked up his load. An old man sitting next to Chapin implores him to imagine "30,000 pounds of mashed bananas. 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