"The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)" is a 1968 pop song, which was the theme song for the children's television program The Banana Splits Adventure Hour.[1] Originally released by Decca Records on the album titled We're the Banana Splits, the single release peaked at No. 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 8, 1969,[2] and No. 94 in Canada, on January 20, 1969.[3] The writing of the song is credited to Mark Barkan and Ritchie Adams, who were the show's music directors.
However, there are claims that the theme was written by jingle writer N. B. Winkless Jr. of the Leo Burnett Agency, but was credited to Adams and Barkan for contractual reasons.[4] This was confirmed by Winkless’ son Terence, who played Bingo on the show, in his 2020 memoir From the Inside: My Life As Bingo of the Banana Splits. “In no uncertain terms, the Tra-La-La song was written by my dad on the slightly out of tune upright piano in our living room in Kenilworth, Illinois.”[5]
In 1995, Hollywood Library released the 1,000-copy limited-edition CD reissue We're the Banana Splits/Here Come the Beagles which, in addition to the original album version, included an alternate version on the song.[6]
The song went on to appear in the 2023 film Nimona.
American punk rock band The Dickies made the song a hit in the United Kingdom in 1979 with their cover version, marketed by A&M Records as "Banana Splits (Tra La La Song)". The record reached No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart.[7] This version also appeared in the film Nimona.
A version by Liz Phair with Material Issue was the first track included on the 1995 album, which peaked at 67 on The Billboard 200.[8]
In 2019, American rock band Fall Out Boy recorded a cover to serve as the theme for The Banana Splits Movie.
In 2006, an overzealous Wikipedia editor suggested that the song may have inspired the Bob Marley and the Wailers song "Buffalo Soldier", because of a perceived similarity between the Tra La La song and Buffalo Soldier's bridge.[9] A 2010 BBC investigation concluded that any influence was unlikely.[10]