"Apples and Bananas" or "Oopples and Boo-noo-noos"[1] is a traditional[2] North American children's song that plays with the vowels of words. The first verse usually begins unaltered:

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.

The following verses replace most or all vowels with one given vowel sound (the letters A, E, I, O, and U, except for "Y" (which is sometimes a vowel or consonant). It is usually each of the long vowels sounds of ⟨a⟩ (/eɪ/), ⟨e⟩ (/iː/), ⟨i⟩ (/aɪ/), ⟨o⟩ (/oʊ/), and ⟨u⟩ (/uː/), although potentially any English vowel can be used. For example:

Scottish musicians Cilla Fisher & Artie Trezise in 1981 on their album and book "The Singing Kettle and later Canadian musician Raffi released a version of the song on his album One Light, One Sun (1985). This version only changed the stressed vowels; that is, the vowels in "eat", "apples", and the last two syllables of "bananas". The song was described as one of several "old favorites" by the Ottawa Citizen in 1984.[3] The song was also sung on three early episodes of the children's television program Barney & Friends, as well as on Rock with Barney, the final video in the predecessor series Barney & the Backyard Gang. As with Raffi, Barney's version also only changed the stressed vowels. The Wiggles sang a version of the song on their 2014 album, and it's now one of their most popular songs.

See also

• "Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass"
• "Oranges and Lemons"

Sources

[[Category:Traditional North American children's songs]]

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