As a parody of songs romanticizing life in Latin America, I saw it as a sort of humorous counterpoint to the recent "La Isla Bonita" syncs. Bananas have of course come up numerous times on this blog.
The "blow" in the song is cocaine. One other song has come up on this blog which is also built around a slang term for cocaine: the 2006 Red Hot Chili Peppers "Snow (Hey Oh)" -- which, although it is by a band branded as "red," features the repeated line "so white as snow." "Bananas and Blow" is from the album White Pepper -- which, again, was released in 2000 and thus could have no reference to the "white as snow" Chili Peppers and their cocaine song.
I think the name White Pepper is meant to be a Beatles reference (the White Album and Sergeant Pepper), as some of the other tracks on the album seem to be deliberately Beatlesy. One such song is the next one YouTube served up after "Bananas and Blow": a track called "Flutes of Chi" that seems to be channeling George Harrison:
For Bill's benefit, there's a potential Pharazon reference in there: "Wrap yourself up in gold / The fruits of the old / Are ripe to be told, my friend."
I don't know what "Flutes of Chi" is supposed to mean, but I assume chi is the Chinese word now more usually transliterated as qi, which besides its familiar meaning as a sort of vital force in Chinese medicine and martial arts, appears in compound words with meanings ranging from "balloon" to "angry" to "gasoline." As it happens, one of these compound words combines qi with the character for "flute": 氣笛. The meaning, though, is presumably not what Ween had in mind. It means "air horn," that is, "a pneumatic device designed to create an extremely loud noise."
It took me a second to remember where I'd heard a song about an air horn before. It was the 2018 They Might Be Giants Dial-A-Song tune "The Neck Rolls Aren't Working."
On the morning of May 23, the day after I'd discovered "Bananas and Blow," I stopped for an oil change on my way to work. I was waiting outside, but the mechanic's wife said (in Chinese), "It's too hot outside. Come sit here where the fan can blow on you."
That's the way fans are talked about in Chinese. No one says "turn on the fan" or "use the fan"; it's always "blow the fan" (吹電風扇). That's also the verb used for flutes and other wind instruments, come to think of it. You don't "play" the flute; you "blow" it (吹笛子).
She showed me to a seat right in front of an electric fan, and I realized that I was looking at -- a naturally occurring rebus for the title of the Ween song:
Bananas and blow.
10 comments:
As of this writing, this post is the one and only Google hit for "naturally occurring rebus," so I guess I've coined a phrase.
When pronounced differently "Chi" is also the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, represented by the symbol X and used as a stand in for the name of Christ (e.g., Xmas).
Might not be a coincidence or or a stretch to connect that here given that you heard this song on May 22nd, and as well as the reference to Flutes.
The number 22 has had particular meaning (though I would hate to bring up Caitlyn Clark again!), including the reference to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, one of the more famous Flutists of legend.... in addition to Ron Burgundy and his Jazz flute, of course. For whatever reason, Robert Browning had the Pied Piper perform his piping on July 22nd, which is now National Rat Catcher's Day in the U.S. So there you have the 22 reference again, just like Chi.
Some visualize the Pied Piper's pipe as a duct flute, also known as a recorder. I like that theory given the reference to "records" on Stones, and the recorders who put them there, in my story and the magical and resonant sound that are meant to come from them. This interpretation would seem to be further supported by the Piper's strange clothes of half Red and half Yellow in Browning's poem, perhaps a symbolic nod to the Rose and Anor Stones which have at times represented or been attached to the same person the Piper seems to symbolize.
In summary, at another level of interpretation it seems the Flutes of Chi might reference said Piper when used in its Greek pronunciation, but I agree with you that there is the Chinese element. I actually had a dream a couple nights ago involving the movie "Big Trouble in Little China", which I have actually never seen, so I took strong notice when it showed up in my dream. My understanding was that Little China was a reference to Taiwan, so I thought of you since you live there. After I woke up, I looked it up and saw that Taiwan's official name is the Republic of China, making the Little China reference seem pretty good given its small size relative to the other China (though the actual movie itself is set in San Francisco's Chinatown, I guess).
On Bananas, one interpretation we haven't explored as much, I don't believe, is its use in the expression of calling someone crazy, i.e., referring to them as "bananas" (kind of like bonkers). As an example in use, the phrase wasn't around during Book of Mormon times or later during their translation, but today you could reinterpret Noah's remarks about Abinadi as:
"Away with this fellow, and slay him; for what have we to do with him, for he is bananas."
“Piper” is the Latin name of the plant that produces both black pepper and white pepper, and as we know “pied” originally meant black and white.
Twenty-two has been my “lucky number” since early childhood, and actually what first piqued my interest in the Tarot was the fact that there are 22 trumps major. July 22 is the anniversary of my
first major spiritual experience and is also the birthday of a family member named Amber, a name/word which has been in lots of syncs and will appear again in a post I’m writing now.
Back when I was posting about the Bananas vs. Civil War Nuts drawings, I mentioned that both “bananas” and “nuts” can mean crazy, though I think there’s a subtle difference. “Bananas” is a neurotic/emotional crazy in contrast to the more psychotic/intellectual “nuts.”
I agree that the Little China dream likely has something to do with me. Want to share any of the details?
Well, it seems we have one more thing that links us together in some fashion.
My birthday is July 22.
I forgot one other detail on the Piper's coloring in the Browning poem. Red and Yellow are also the colors of Fire, and associated with the Phoenix. This is another pretty strong nod to Abinadi, who was set on fire by Noah and his priests and who, as a result, will like the Phoenix, rise from the ashes.
I'll share more about the Little China dream in a separate comment since you asked.
There are actually two separate dreams, but I think Anne Hathaway thematically joins them together, so I will share both even though the Little China reference was only in the first dream.
In the dream, I was in a movie theater with my friend Nic. I was also there apparently with Anne Hathaway, who had a girl sitting to her left, on the other side of Anne from me. The movie started, and the screen filled with Chinese characters, and then the title of the movie which was "Big Trouble in Little China". At this, the girl on Anne's left began crying, and basically screaming, and she asked why we had to watch this movie. She cited some specific issues with it, including that it was old, and because of this the picture only filled up a small fraction of the screen. I noticed this detail as she mentioned it - it was as if the resolution of the movie wasn't of sufficient quality to increase the size, and we were left with a fairly small image on this large screen.
Anyway, Hathaway was trying to calm the girl down, while giving me an exasperated look asking what else she could do fix the situation.
I myself was surprised we were watching this movie. I had come expecting to watch a different one, but it appeared that this is the one were going to watch. As the movie started, a man who I recognized in the dream but don't remember who it was after waking, came to join us in the row to watch. Then I woke up.
I went back to sleep, and heard a conversation between two people. The first said:
"Darkroom has the board"
To which the other replied "He will rue the day".
This then led into the second dream.
In that dream, I was back at MIT, where I went to graduate school. I was there with my friend Isaac. At one point, Isaac was sitting down working on a math problem. I asked him what specific problem he was working one, and he said "The one our professor gave us to finish. Don't you remember? We are supposed to solve this.". I didn't remember, so asked Isaac to explain it to me.
We were supposed to solve a problem in increasing the comparative distance one person travelled vs. another, but the only variable we could influence was time. And not that one person had longer to go farther - they had the same basic "time" to travel - but that only some form of time manipulation was allowed in solving the problem. We had to change distance by changing time.
Realizing this was important and the problem needed to be solved, I started working on it. I eventually solved the problem, but in a strange way in the dream. I entered a room of people who had also been working on the issue and said the solution to the problem ultimately would have to entail the creation of a new universe. I gave my reasons and said the conclusion was pretty inescapable. All but one person said the idea was nuts, but I stood by it. The one supporter said the idea "made complete sense and was the only logical conclusion."
I then woke up.
Anne Hathaway in the dream above was the thematic link as I thought things over later that day because of her role in Interstellar, a movie which involved the manipulation of spacetime and which came up on my blog several times in reference to the black hole imagery.
The first dream had her as a character, and the second involved the theme that was front and center in Interstellar, which is the manipulation of spacetime.
Hathaway actually became a very interesting word game for me much like Francis Scott Key, as when I said the name out loud in thinking through why she was in the dream, I heard myself say "Ann hath a way", as in the older English use of hath for has. "Ann has a way", in other words. This would be a nod to the "paths that Asenath wrought", I think, that came up in my words a couple years ago, and which I've associated with the path to the Tree of Life in Lehi's vision.
In my story, Pharazon's actions broke the link between this world and where we need to go. This may have been the reason why the girl was really crying having to see Big Trouble in Little China. If you are Pharazon, it would make sense, obviously. Ann's presence in trying to comfort the girl would be symbolic of her knowledge that no matter how that movie turns out, it is going to be just fine. She has a way.
This interpretation would further make sense as I understood the girl as symbolically representing Galadriel. In LOTR, Galadriel has a lament or cry regarding the straight road that no longer exists and her inability to get back home. For example, in the lament she sang "all paths are drowned deep in shadow", with these paths being the ones that could take her home to Tirion.
If you are not Pharazon, we would need to tweak my interpretation.
Ann is another form of the name Nancy, as well, and to my imagination likely a very direct reference to the Ant Nancy from your Kanye dream.
That “hath a way” pun appears in Ulysses, where Stephen says of Shakespeare, “He chose badly? He was chosen, it seems to me. If others have their will Ann hath a way.”
Am I auditioning for the role of King Noah now, too, or has Brigham still got that one? I don’t think I need to ask who you think is Abinadi.
Doot!
"Flutes of Chi" talks of things coming in threes. Wiki shows older Chinese scripts used three strokes to write qi, apparently referring to Taoism's Three Treasures (three "T"s, ah ah ah!).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Treasures_(Taoism)
Is the William Shakespeare pun relevant because of the reference to Shakespeare? That is where my mind went, with the interesting word play of a Shakespeare meaning "one skilled with a spear", as seemingly a tie to a Stone, which has been specifically compared with a spear in my writing. But it wasn't clear why you were mentioning that - any meaning with that connection or why it came to your mind?
As for Noah, it is a working theory. The Brigham-Noah connection had been in my mind long before my blog and when I wrote about that, and when there was only Brigham around to pin him on. So, I've revisited some of those assumptions. Still thinking it through and testing some things out.
Noah was a name you applied to yourself indirectly through the Blue-Green Abelard reference. I know you were referring to biblical Noah, but I was mostly interested in the name, of course. And Pharazon is the person who caused the flood, and thus has an association in the story involving Noah.
One thing that caught my attention when you banned me from you blog was the reason you gave. You specifically mentioned that I was "creating a hostile environment for other commentators". That was the only reason.
It caught my attention because this was basically the exact same reason King Noah first wanted to silence Abinadi. In Round 1, Noah says that Abinadi "has said these things that he might stir up my people to anger one with another, and to raise contentions among my people; therefore I will slay him."
Basically, Noah was clearly concerned about the hostile environment Abinadi might cause among his people.
There are other things that fit Noah more closely with Pharazon than with Brigham, one being the capacity for self-reflection and to almost right the course at the very end (even if late). Pharazon, when faced with the final choice, hesitated and almost turned back. Noah did not want to burn Abinadi in the end.
One common link between both characters in their situations was that they surrounded themselves with the wrong people, and cut themselves off from the people who could have helped. Besides having the devil himself in his ear, Pharazon took along 3 of the Nazgul, apparently, who I would guess make sure Pharazon followed through with his ill-conceived plan. In Noah's case, it was his priests who ensured that Abinadi was killed.
We have a different perspective on what it means to explore these characters. I spent the better part of 2024 creating a heroic story for Pharazon. Just because I don't think some of those details are true anymore doesn't mean I don't still believe or hope in a fully redemptive and heroic arc to that character's story is possible, irrespective of whether that is you or not. Numenor needs to be restored, and the path through Ungoliant's mists needs to be put in place - that would be a good story to be a part of.
I don't view myself as being beyond or past what happened to him or what he did. Placed in the same situation, I can't say for sure that I do any better. We don't know what we are or what we would choose for sure until given the choice, and neither of us in this life have been through or experienced anything remotely close to what these characters experienced. Even the element of "choice" on Numenor is questionable given how sick those people had become.
My mind went to Shakespeare because you brought up Anne Hathaway (even though a the follow-up comment made it clear you meant the actress, not Mrs. Shakespeare). Nothing more complicated than that.
Noah was a notorious cat lover if we are to trust Brother Friberg. So chalk that up as another suspicious animal affinity.
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