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30,000 Pounds of Bananas - Harry Chapin



     
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30,000 Pounds of Bananas Lyrics


Advisory - the following lyrics contain explicit language:
It was just after dark when the truck started down
The hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania
Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas
Carrying thirty thousand pounds
Hit it big John
Of bananasHe was a young driver
Just out on his second job
And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits
For everyone in that coal scarred city
Where children play without despairIn backyard slag piles and folks manage to eat each day

About thirty thousand pounds of bananas
Yes, just about thirty thousand pounds
Scream it again, John
Of bananasHe passed a sign that he should have seen
Saying "Shift to low gear, a fifty dollar fine my friend."
He was thinking perhaps about the warm breathed woman
Who was waiting at the journey's end
He started down the two mile drop
The curving road that wound from the top of the hillHe was pushing on through the shortening miles
That ran down to the depot
Just a few more miles to go
Then he'd go home and have her ease his long, cramped day away
And the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas
Yes the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananasHe was picking speed as the city spread its twinkling lights, below him
But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the nights
Delights went through him
His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down
But the pedal floored easy without a sound
He said, "Christ"It was funny how he had named the only man
Who could save him now
He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide
Riding on his fear hunched back
Was everyone of those yellow green
I'm telling you thirty thousand pounds of bananas
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of bananasHe barely made the sweeping curve
That led into the steepest grade
And he missed the thankful passing bus
At ninety miles an hour
And he said, "God, make it a dream"
As he rode his last tread downHe said, "God, make it a dream"
As he rode his last tread down
And he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars
Clipped off thirteen telephone poles
Hit two houses, bruised eight treesAnd blue crossed seven people
It was then he lost his head
Not to mention an arm or two before he stopped
And he slid for four hundred yards
Along the hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania
All those thirty thousand pounds of bananasYou know the man who told me about it on the bus
As it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania
He shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head
And he saidAnd this is exactly what he said
"Boy that sure must've been something
Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas"
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas
Of bananas, bananas, just bananas, thirty thousand pounds
Of bananas, not no driver now, just bananas

Enjoy the lyrics !!!
Harry Chapin (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer and songwriter. Chapin's debut album, Heads and Tales (1972), was a success thanks to the single "Taxi". His follow-up album, Sniper and Other Love Songs, was less successful; but his third, Short Stories, was a major success. Verities & Balderdash, released soon after, was even more successful, bolstered by the chart-topping hit single "Cat's in the Cradle". He also wrote and performed a Broadway musical, The Night That Made America Famous.

In the mid 1970s, Chapin focused on social activism, including raising money to combat hunger in the United States and co-founding the organization World Hunger Year, before returning to music with On the Road to Kingdom Come. He also released a book of poetry, Looking...Seeing, in 1977.

His fellow Long Islanders loved him for his support of local artists, as well. He and his wife Sandy raised funds for the Performing Arts Foundation, a now-defunct local theatre group. They also supported the Long Island Ballet. The band shell at Huntington's Hecksher Park is named for Harry Chapin.

Chapin died on July 16, 1981 in an automobile accident on the Long Island Expressway at the age of 38. He was headed west from Huntington Bay, where he lived with his wife and three children, to perform a concert in Eisenhower Park in Nassau County when his car was struck by a truck. An autopsy showed that he had suffered a heart attack, but it could not be determined whether that occurred before or after the collision. Supermarkets General, the owner of the truck, paid $12 million in the ensuing litigation.

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Harry Chapin