| Banana Republic | |
| Cover: | Boomtown_Banana_Republic.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Boomtown Rats |
| Album: | Mondo Bongo[1] |
| B-Side: | "Man at the Top"[2] |
| Released: | 14 November 1980 [3] |
| Genre: | New wave, reggae[4] |
| Length: | (album version 5:01) |
| Label: | Ensign Records (UK) Columbia Records (USA) |
| Producer: | Tony Visconti |
| Prev Title: | Someone's Looking at You |
| Prev Year: | 1980 |
| Next Title: | Up All Night |
| Next Year: | 1981 |
"Banana Republic" was the first single from The Boomtown Rats' album Mondo Bongo.[1] It peaked at number three in the UK Singles Chart.[5]
Breaking from the band's previous new wave sound, the song opens with a ska-reggae hook (that repeats at the close of the much longer album version).[6] However, the song itself is a more mainstream piece musically. The 'banana republic' which the song describes is actually a deliberately scathing portrait of the Republic of Ireland, the band's country of origin, and was written in response to the band being banned from performing there.[7] This in turn was reputedly because of Geldof's "denunciation of nationalism, medieval-minded clerics and corrupt politicians" in a memorably controversial 1977 interview/performance on Ireland's The Late Late Show with Gay Byrne.[8] [9]
| Chart (1980–81) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[10] | 18 |
| South Africa (Springbok Radio)[11] | 12 |
. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6.