Since time immemorial, people have sung about fruit. From pagan-era harvest songs sung by jolly red-faced peasants to 18th century nursery rhymes like ‘Oranges and Lemons’, and even haunting anti-lynching melancholia like Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’, there’s something lyrical, literal and metaphorical about edible seed-bearing plants. We picked our top ten fruity pop songs, so you don’t have to. Forget five-a-day, here are ten for all time.
The Beatles – ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ (1967)
Straight in at number one, there’s nothing to get hung about with this psychedelic Fab Four classic. Or is there? You’d be forgiven for thinking Lennon hallucinated fields of giant, plump, heart-shaped strawberries while writing this LSD-soaked number. In fact, the title refers to a Salvation Army children’s home in Liverpool where he attended garden parties as a child. Nothing is real, maaan.
Orange Juice – ‘Rip It Up’ (1982)
This gorgeous band, formed by Edwyn Collins in Glasgow in 1979, were forever asked by banal music journalists how they chose their name. On one occasion Collins told a Dutch journalist, “Because, in my country, Scotland, we have a drink called orange juice.” When the confused journo responded, “We have that drink in Holland too,” Collins, affecting a puzzled expression, fired back: “Do you?!”
Harry Belafonte – ‘Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)’ (1956)
“Work all day on a drop of rum,” goes the opening verse of this Jamaican folk song, “stack banana til’ the morning come.” It’s not about slavery as you might think. Bananas replaced sugar as Jamaica’s main export from the 1860s onwards and dock workers laboured all night loading crates onto ships. The “tally man” was the boss who arrived when daylight beckoned. Exhausted workers, singing a call-and-response refrain implored the guv’nor to tally their bananas – count their workload – so they could go home. Harry Belafonte’s version is the best, particularly in this scene from Beetlejuice.
Beyoncé – Lemonade (2016)
“I was served lemons, but I made lemonade,” Jay-Z’s grandmother told the crowd at her 90th birthday party. And the versatility of citrus fruit was immortalised in the name of Beyoncé’s sixth solo record? I hear you ask. Actually, it’s metaphorical. Beyoncé’s suppressed rage at her husband’s infidelity translated into an album where each track is a statement of strength, dignity and racial and gender awareness. It went platinum within two months and has already sold 2m copies in the US alone.
Eric Donaldson – ‘Cherry Oh Baby’ (1971)
The Hammond organ squelching along in this track, beneath the scratchy guitar, tickly hi-hat and soaring vocals, somehow conjures up the image of a ripe bunch of cherries squeezed until the pips come out. Musical onomatopoeia of the highest quality in this reggae classic, later covered by UB40.
REM – ‘Orange Crush’ (1988)
We have to confess, we thought that Michael Stipe was singing about slush puppies on this song from their breakthrough album Green. He wasn’t. It’s actually about the herbicidal chemical Agent Orange used by the US Army in Vietnam to wipe out enemy crops. Soldiers were told they wouldn’t be affected by the spray, but on returning home many became ill with cancer and their children born with spina bifida. Pretty dark, Michael, pretty dark.
Bananarama – ‘Venus’ (1986)
The enduring popularity of bananas didn’t quite extend to the girl group who pre-dated the Spice Girls by a good quarter of a century. Formed in 1979 and named after their favourite kids’ TV show (The Banana Splits) and their favourite song (‘Pyjamarama’ by Roxy Music) the trio had a string of hits throughout the 80s, but made the ill-informed decision to reform as a duo in 2002. They continue to play community arts centres and, er, Butlins, to a largely uncaring British public.
Nick Drake – ‘Fruit Tree’ (1969)
Nick Drake was one of England’s greatest ever songwriters but never experienced success in his lifetime. While still a Cambridge student Drake began his recording career, bunking off lectures to travel to studios in London. He eventually graduated with a third class honours degree. His acoustic records featuring majestic string arrangements are posthumously accepted as classics .After struggling with the lack of recognition, Drake died of a sleeping pill overdose at 26. In this song he compares fame to a fruit tree: “So very unsound. It can never flourish ‘til its stalk is in the ground.”
Fats Domino – ‘Blueberry Hill’ (1956)
A bit like the Beatles’ one which didn’t have any actual strawberries in it, Fats Domino’s smouldering rock’n’roll era international hit was not so much about the Vitamin-K and manganese-packed antioxidant superfood, but about a youthful sexual awakening on the titular hill. A quick trawl of the internet reveals that there are 16 Blueberry Hills in the US, spread across seven states: Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Vermont and Alaska. So there.
The Jam – ‘Setting Sons’ (1979)
Jams contain fruit, right? Tenuous? Absolutely, but we just love The Jam. Sorry.
Josh Surtees (@Josh_ua_Surtees)
fruitpunch 