Curl into a ball like you have more fun
That would make it faster
Why do you do it do you act like you?...

Don't fight
Go red and blue and black and white
Sell this sell this
Or leave it senseless like a suck on a gun?
Put a piece of metal in your head you said
Make you dead
Make you hippa hippa hippa hippa

A palace of stones
Of your bananafish bones
I'll buy you a hundred years old
To celebrate our difference
Theorise and talk yourself
Until you're tired and old

Disappear everywhere and watch me
Pull my lips apart
Exploit inspire encourage
Be responsible for this
Ha ha

I don't think
I don't think
I make use of all this time
Oh kill me kiss me once
And then we'll throw it away
And then we'll throw it away

Turn off the lights
And tell me about the games you play



Lyrics submitted by oofus

Track duration: 03:00

"Bananafishbones" as written by Robert James Smith

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Bananafishbones song meanings
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14 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:I think, the song is derived from this story:

    The action of the story then moves to the beach. A young child named Sybil Carpenter is on the beach with her mother. The mother lets Sybil run off and play while she heads up to the hotel to have a cocktail with a friend. Sybil runs down the beach to find “see more glass”.

    Seymour Glass is revealed to be a pale young man wearing a terry cloth robe and lying on the beach. Sybil asks him where the lady is. Seymour replies that Muriel is “At the hairdresser’s. Having her hair dyed mink.” The two have a discussion about Sharon Lipschutz, another little girl who Seymour had let sit on the piano bench while he played in the Ocean Room at the hotel.

    Then Seymour and Sybil go into the water. Seymour has an inflatable raft, and when the water gets up to Sybil’s waist, he put her on the raft, on her stomach. Seymour tells Sybil about bananafish: “they swim into a hole where there’s a lot of bananas. They’re very ordinary-looking fish when they swim in. But once they get in, they behave like pigs. Why, I’ve known some bananafish to swim into a banana hole and eat as many as seventy-eight bananas. “ Seymour explains that after they eat so many bananas, they can’t get out of the hole. They get banana fever and die.
    Flag fansnoton September 01, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:hippa hippa hippa hippa-genius!
    Flag monster36604on November 25, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"The title, for some no-reason, from "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" - a short story by J.D.Salinger...again me hating myself..." - robert smith (Cure News 10 - December 1990)
    Flag nic-ckon September 11, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think that makes 2 salinger references on the top... in the title track smith sings "walking these gorgeous blocks", which I think is paraphrased from Catcher in the Rye.
    Flag teapoton August 31, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Haha. Briliant. XD
    Flag Bananafishboneson January 30, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:A dark and twisted pop song in the same vein as Lovecats! I love it!
    Flag King of Some Islandon January 18, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Part of the song stems from A Perfect Day for Bananafish by JD Salinger. Many of his earlier songs are written via inspiration from books. If you read the story, it's about Seymour Glass (The Glass Family), who was nuts - he tries to show a child his "Bananafish" in the water, just before he goes inside and kills himself.
    Flag JadeGoldon January 17, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Yep you guys are right!
    Smith did base it on "A Perfect Day For Bananafish".

    Here's what he said about "Bananafishbones":

    "The title, for some no-reason, from 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish' - a short story by J.D. Salinger ...
    Again me hating myself ...
    (R. Smith, cure news number 10, December 1990)
    Flag im-a-cult-heroon July 24, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I haven't read it, what's it about?
    Flag pistaron March 27, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Considering what absolutely amazing people both Smith and Salinger are, I would definitely say they have some connection. A Perfect Day for Bananafish is a great story and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Smith had based the song on it.
    Flag hippomaidenon January 15, 2006   Link

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