We had a lovely bunch of coconuts,
All ready for their time in the tropic sunshine.
Then these monkeys showed up
To perpetrate their crime.

Come save our coconuts
From the monkey in the tree.
Shoot the coconuts from the sky
And count how many you seize.

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1965’s “The Monkey’s Uncle” was the last Disney film to star Annette Funicello and Tommy Kirk together. The song was written by the Sherman Brothers and sung by the Beach Boys with Funicello on lead vocals. Chimpanzees are members of the ape family, but the song (and movie) mixes apes with monkeys liberally.

1944’s “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” uses the “coconut shy” funfair game for its inspiration. The coconut shy features coconuts that the player must knock off a table (or from a post) with a ball. Merv Griffin and Danny Kaye both had hits with the song. (We’re not shooting coconuts of a table, yet; they are placed on our targets, but we can modify the game some.) The game is referenced in H.G. Wells “The Invisible Man.”

In 1957, RCA Victor released Harry Belafonte’s album “Belafonte Sings of the Caribbean,” which featured among the songs “Cocoanut Woman.” The song extolls the virtues of coconuts for health and relationships. (I heard it often when I was working at Old Key West in Walt Disney World.)

Harry Nilsson’s 1971 album “Nilsson Schmilsson” contained “Coconut,” a song about a woman who mixed coconut milk with lime and got a stomach ache. (The movie I most remember this from is “Practical Magic” starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.)

In 1983, Mickey Mouse and friends decide to get wet with “Splashdance,” an obvious play on the movie title “Flashdance” starring Jennifer Beals. Chip and Dale go on vacation, where Dale mistakes coconuts for acorns. Hilarity ensues in the less then two second sound bite.

What other songs have coconuts or monkeys in them? Is there a song that has both? Of course, there is…

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