Talk:I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

Vote for Deletion

This article survived a Vote for Deletion. The discussion can be found here. -Splash 02:26, 31 July 2005 (UTC)`

Inappropriate Link

Anyone else think the first source currently sited is a little inappropriate? 169.229.101.153 (talk) 22:55, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Monty Python

Monty Python has never recorded the song. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Paploo (talk • contribs) 20:33, 29 July 2006.

Indeed they have - It's on Monty Python Sings! - CaptainJae (talk) 04:17, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

It's not on Monty Python Sings. Look again. I'm quite sure Python never performed or recorded this song. Some Youtube videos claim to use Python's recording, but to me they don't sound at all like Python. The orchestration sounds older than anything Python ever did. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Svuddrik (talk • contribs) 20:43, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Quite right, monty python has never recorded this song. It does not appear in any of the 25 songs on monty python sings.--Licourtrix (talk) 23:19, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

My Life as a Dog

The song (probably the Finnish version) can be heard at length in the background (playing on the radio) of a scene in the Swedish film, My Life as a Dog -- the music for at least one stanza seems to be identical to the music for the song "All I Want for Christmas is a Hippopotamus"David (talk) 05:31, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Pop culture references

I know this article is a bit short and thin, but how important are the pop culture references? Would it be better either to drastically trim this section (how?) or to delete it all and maybe add one or two of the most important items to the main text? —— Shakescene (talk) 20:19, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Question: Didn't the song find its way onto the sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie?" I seem to remember a very uncharacteristic Dr. Bellows playing a Ukulele and singing this song in his office to a mortified Major Nelson. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.127.181.211 (talk) 18:17, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

Also it is odd how it says it features in the Swedish version of The Lion King when Zazu sings it in the original English version. Roosters93 (talk) 13:05, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

The article says: " A portion of the song also appeared on Disney's "The Lion King" (sung by Rowan Atkinson)" ? Martinevans123 (talk) 13:07, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

The Jungle Book??

"A portion of the song also appeared in Disney's 1994 The Lion King (sung by Rowan Atkinson) and in the 1967 The Jungle Book."
I removed the reference to The Jungle Book. I've seen the movie many times, and have never even noticed a hint of this song or any reference to it. If you can find a reliable source stating this is in fact in the movie, feel free to put this info back in and cite the source. 2601:680:C001:3BD0:30BC:11B1:E3:EA6D (talk) 04:03, 13 October 2015 (UTC)

I don't see how you would miss it? Zazu sings it to Scar when he's trapped in a cage: https://youtube.com/watch?v=wdHRbZATyW8&feature=youtu.be --Anka.213 (talk) 10:48, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

That's The Lion King - not The Jungle Book. Ghmyrtle (talk) 20:45, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Roll up?

"Roll up, bowl a ball..." sounds very plausible for a fairground cry. But I can't find any written image source that has this. They instead seem to have "Roll a bowl a ball.." e.g. [1] or [2]. I suspect that this would provide a conclusive source if someone wanted to spend $4.97. Martinevans123 (talk) 07:48, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

The various lyric sites are unreliable sources because they are user-generated. That's basic WP:RS. In any case, they swing several ways - roll up bowl a ball, roll or bowl a ball, roll a bowl a ball - so they are hardly definitive. Just listening to the song is of little use, one might hear whatever one wishes. Knowing how a cocoanut shy works is the key. It is a fairground game where the customer throws a ball at coconuts standing on bowls fixed atop stakes driven into the ground. Rolling a ball - if one even had free access - would not have the slightest effect in knocking one of the coconuts off so as to claim the prize. "Roll up" is the traditional call of the showman, and bowling a ball is not relling it in the sense of ten-pin bowls, but bowling it as per the traditional English game of cricket. --Pete (talk) 07:59, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

"Knowing how a cocoanut shy works.." is not the key. The key is in understanding how the lyricist wrote the song, with a view to what collection of words sounded good. Lyrics to songs are not necessarily factual depictions of the real world. Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:59, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

Indeed. Personally I've always had some difficulty in imagining coconuts in "a bunch". Martinevans123 (talk) 09:13, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

I agree about lyric sites being unreliable sources. I guess that's why even the "approved" ones are relegated to "External links". I'm also well aware of the required technique at the fairground, which is to throw or indeed "pitch", and not roll or bowl. But I'd say "the key" here is a reliable source, like a published printed music score.Martinevans123 (talk) 08:22, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

Here is a copy of sheet music, from what seems to me to be a more reliable source. "Singin', Roll-a-bowl-a-ball-a-penny-a-pitch!" Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:52, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

Many thanks. That looks sufficiently reliable to me. Martinevans123 (talk) 08:57, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

A search produces any number of similar images of dubious provenance. A photo of the actual printed piano sheet music from the 1940s would be good. What I'm NOT seeing is "roll or bowl a ball". Or "roll up, bowl a ball". I'll agree that song lyrics don't necessarily make logical sense, and in fact the best ones always have a touch of quirk. Listening to the earliest recordings, there are any number of artists with various fake English accents, and variations such as "standing underneath a flare" or "underneath the flare". I think there's sufficient vintage images from eBay etc. of "roll a bowl a ball" to justify that wording though I'm not sure how to use eBay listings as a source. --Pete (talk) 10:18, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

I'd be surprised if Wikipedia trusts anything at eBay. But I am fully satisfied with the current source. If you have a better one, I'm sure we'd like to see it. Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:04, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

There's a better source at 100 Years of Coconuts which has three pages of the original Box & Cox sheet music. I've used the cover as an image for the article. Page 3 has the chorus which is "Roll or bowl a ball a penny a pitch". I have updated the article with this.

FYI, I was inspired to check out the article after the song was played on the Lisa Tarbuck show just now. But I have a prior interest as I wrote the Box & Cox article. More anon...

Andrew🐉(talk) 19:03, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

Ah, dear old Lisa. She is funny. That's "It's Liza with a "Z" not Lisa with an "S" cause Lisa with an "S" goes snoz Its Z instead of S, Li instead of Lee it's simple as could be see Liza! (??) Martinevans123 (talk) 19:40, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts

I remember this song being the team anthem at Cambridge United fc 82.24.33.102 (talk) 21:36, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Well-known for being a tropical paradise of the East. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:02, 10 February 2024 (UTC)