Coconut (song)

"Coconut"
Single by Harry Nilsson
from the album Nilsson Schmilsson
B-side	"The Moonbeam Song"
Released	1972 (1972)
Format	7" single
Recorded	1971 (1971)
Genre	Calypso
Length	3:52
Label	RCA Victor
Writer(s)	Harry Nilsson
Producer	Richard Perry
Harry Nilsson singles chronology
"Jump into the Fire" (1972) "Coconut" (1972) "Spaceman " (1972)

"Coconut" is a song written and first recorded by Harry Nilsson.

Original version

The third single from his 1971 album, Nilsson Schmilsson, it reached #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and it features three distinct characters (the narrator, the sister, and the doctor), all sung in different voices by Nilsson. The song is perhaps best remembered for its chorus lyric, "She put the lime in the coconut, she drank 'em both up."^[1] There are no chord changes, and the only chord in the song is C 7th, strummed on an acoustic guitar.

Track listing

7" single: RCA 2214 (US)

^[2]

Side one

1. "Coconut"

Side two

1. "The Moonbeam Song"

7" single: RCA 447-0940 (US, reissue)

^[3]

Side one

1. "Coconut"

Side two

1. "Jump into the Fire"

Dannii Minogue version

"Coconut"
Single by Dannii Minogue
from the album Girl
B-side	"Everybody Changes Underwater" "Heaven Can Wait" "Someone New"
Released	December 7, 1998 (1998-12-07)
Format	CD single
Genre	Dance
Length	4:50
Label	WEA
Writer(s)	Harry Nilsson
Producer	Flexifinger (Original vocal production: DNA)
Dannii Minogue singles chronology
"Disremembrance" (1998) "Coconut" (1998) "Everlasting Night" (1999)

Dannii Minogue recorded the song in 1994 with UK dance producers DNA. When Minogue parted ways with Mushroom Records in 1995 and signed to Eternal Records in 1996, she had the track remixed by producers Flexifinger.

The track was originally used as a hidden bonus track on her third album Girl. It was subsequently released on December 7, 1998 (1998-12-07) in Australia as the fourth and final single from that album.

In 2009, the original version of Coconut was made available on the compilation The 1995 Sessions.

Track listing

CD single

1. "Coconut" (Harry Nilsson) – 4:50
   Production: DNA, Flexifinger
2. "Everybody Changes Underwater" (Dannii Minogue, David Green, Ian Masterson) – 6:36
   Production: Flexifinger
3. "Heaven Can Wait" (7" Version) (Brian Higgins, Matt Gray, Stuart McLennan, Tim Powell) – 4:06
   Production: Brian Higgins, Matt Gray
   Additional production: Metro
4. "Someone New" (David Green, Ian Masterson) – 9:22
   Production: Flexifinger
5. "Heaven Can Wait" (Trouser Enthusiasts' Cloud Nine Mix) (Higgins, Gray, McLennan, Powell) – 12:13
   Production: Brian Higgins, Matt Gray
   Remix: Trouser Enthusiasts
6. "Heaven Can Wait" (D-Bop's Heavenly Girl Mix) (Higgins, Gray, McLennan, Powell) – 7:47
   Production: Brian Higgins, Matt Gray
   Remix and additional production: D-Bop
   Mislabelled on both sleeve and disc as "D-Bop's Melt & Sparkle Mix".

Music video

Minogue wasn't able to film a music video for the single as she was touring the UK on her Unleashed '98 Tour, so a montage video featuring images from "All I Wanna Do", "Everything I Wanted", and "Disremembrance" was made.

The video was never released commercially until 2007, when it finally appeared on The Video Collection DVD as one of the bonus videos.

Other cover versions

Yale's all male a cappella group, the Alley Cats, traditionally sings this song as the closing song of their performances. It has also appeared in many films (including Practical Magic, in which it is proclaimed "a good song to get drunk to"; Wag the Dog; and the end credits of Reservoir Dogs), and in episodes of The Simpsons, ChalkZone, and House (in "Let them Eat Cake", the tenth episode of the fifth season), which originally aired on 2 December 2008. It was sung by guest star Becky Baeling, who played Deedee in this episode, an actress that House hired to trick Taub and Kutner. The original version was also heard in the final scene when Deedee and House are alone flirting in his office.^[4]

It appeared in more than one episode of Bones, most recently in the episode "The Hole in The Heart" (5/12/2011); it was said to be the favorite song of a character killed in the episode and is sung by the remaining characters as they load his coffin into a hearse for transport home to England.^[5]

Other cover versions of the song have been recorded by The Baha Men, Jimmy Buffett, Fred Schneider (produced by Richard Barone), Lazlo Bane, Sprung Monkey, P.M. Dawn (as part of "Fantasia's Confidential Ghetto" on their Jesus Wept album), and, according to a Nilsson website, the Alice Cooper Band. It is also covered by the Sugar Beats on their CD How Sweet It Is (Fresh Versions of Retro Pop for Kids). A line from "Coconut" is included in the Tyga song "Coconut Juice".

The song was also used in a 2005 ad campaign for Coca-Cola, debuting their Coke with Lime product, changing the signature verse at the very end to "put the lime in the coke, you nut".^[6]

References

1. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbgv8PkO9eo&feature=related
2. ^ "Discogs single details". http://www.discogs.com/release/568511. Retrieved December 1, 2008 (2008-12-01). 
3. ^ "Discogs reissue single details". http://www.discogs.com/release/568511. Retrieved December 1, 2008 (2008-12-01). 
4. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2068458/
5. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1628118/
6. ^ "Harry Nilsson fansite". http://www.harrynilsson.com/page-coconut.html. Retrieved December 1, 2008 (2008-12-01). 

External links

• "Coconut" lyrics — lyrics of the song at Dannii Minogue site.
• Coconut on Muppet Wiki