Lyrics 30,000 Pounds Of Bananas - Harry Chapin

30,000 Pounds Of Bananas

It was just after dark
when the truck started down
the hill that leads into
Scranton, Pennsylvania
carrying 30, 000 pounds of bananas
carrying 30, 000 pounds (hit it, Big John!)
(of bananas)
He was a young driver
Just out on his second job
and he was carrying the next day’s pasty fruits
for everyone in that coal-scarred city
when children play without despair
in backyard slagpiles
and folks manage to eat each day
about 30, 000 pounds of bananas
Yes, just about 30, 000 pounds (scream it again, John!)
(of bananas)
He passed a sign that he should have seen
saying «Shift to low gear.
A fifty dollar fine, my friend!»
He was thinking, perhaps, about the warm-breathed woman
who was waiting at the journey’s end
He started down the two mile drop
the curving road that wound from the top of the hill.
He was pushing on through the shortening miles
that ran down to the depot.
Just a few more miles to go.
Then he’d go home and have her ease his long cramped day away
from the smell of 30, 000 pounds of bananas.
Yes, the smell of 30, 000 pounds of bananas.
He was picking up speed as the city spread
its twinkling lights below him.
But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts
of the night’s delights went through him.
His foot nursed the brakes to slow him down,
but the pedal floored easy without a sound.
He said, «Christ!»
It was funny how he named
the only man who could save him now.
He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide.
Riding on his fear-hunched back
was every one of those yellow-green
I’m tellin' ya, 30, 000 pounds of bananas
Yes, there were 30, 000 pounds of bananas.
He barely made the sweeping curve
that led into the steepest grade
And he missed the thankful passing bus
at ninety miles an hour!
And he said, «God, make it a dream!»
As he rode his last rack down.
He said, «God, make it a dream!»
As he rode his last rack down.
And he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars
Clipped off thirteen telephone poles
Hit two houses, bruised eight trees,
and Blue Crossed seven people.
It was then he lost his head,
not to mention an arm or two, before he stopped.
And he smeared for four hundred yards
Along the hill that leads into Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Almost 30, 000 pounds
of bananas.
You know, the man who told me about it on the bus
as it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
He shrugged his shoulders.
He shook his head.
And he said (and this is exactly what he said)
«Boy, it sure must have been something.
Just imagine 30, 000 pounds of bananas.
Yes, there were 30, 000 pounds
of mashed bananas.»
Of bananas
Just bananas
Thirty pounds
Of bananas
Not no driver now
Just bananas!