'Yes! We Have No Bananas' — and Why
In August 1923, the country's most popular song was the novelty recording Yes! We Have No Bananas.
A version by Billy Jones reached #1 on the charts...
...only to be replaced at #1 by another version, this time by Ben Selvin's orchestra featuring vocals by Irving Kaufman. This rendition was filled with more sound effects and a focus on instrumentation over lyrics, including an extended muted trumpet solo:
This phenomenon, multiple simultaneous versions of a hit song, used to occur much more often. In 1946 alone, not one, not two, but three versions of the song To Each His Own topped the main Billboard chart.
In the modern era, though, that phenomenon has become basically nonexistent. The closest example may be July 2005, when American Idol winner Carrie Underwood and runner-up Bo Bice both released hit versions of the would-be victor's coronation song Inside Your Heaven. Underwood's reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 while Bice's reached #2, fittingly matching their final positions on the actual show.
Why was Yes! We Have No Bananas so popular? An August 1923 New York Times Magazine article detailed several possible explanations. Most of them are still obvious to modern ears, like the wackiness of the lyrics, but others were more unique to the time:
But aside from the general quality of relief, there is a specific also to account for "Bananas." It came on the popular music market after a period of ballads of which most specimens inevitably contained the words sorry and cry. The public which takes to works of this sort had been subjected to an overstrain of sob-stuff.
'Yes! We Have No Bananas' — and Why
Published: Sunday, August 12, 1923