"Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit" (alternatively "Beans, Beans, good for your heart") is a playground saying and children's song about how beans cause flatulence (farting).Carey, Bjorn Scientists take the ‘toot’ out of beans NBC News, April 25, 2006 (accessed November 17, 2007).
The basis of the song (and flatulence humor in general) is the high amount of oligosaccharide present in beans. Bacteria in the large intestine digest these sugars, producing carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane.
Lyrics
Alternate lyrics include:
Another alternate version includes:
A variant documented by Iona Opie, an English folklorist, is:
Popular culture A version of the rhyme appears at the beginning of Robert Crumb's comic strip, "Crybaby's Blues".Crumb, Robert. The Complete Crumb Comics Vol 11. Fantagraphics Books 1995, p.42. . (Originally from Arcade #5, Spring 1976.) In The Simpsons season 4 episode 20 "Whacking Day," Bart performs a rendition of "Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit" in a Christian school. The American bean brand Bush Brothers and Company wrote a related song with the singer Josh Groban. The lyrics include a direct reference to the rhyme: "They'd yell about the musical fruit // They'd say the more that I ate, the more I'd (toot)". In a "Dot's Poetry Corner" segment of Animaniacs, Dot recites a variation entitled "Ode to a Veggie", that goes "Beans, beans, the musical fruit / The more you eat, the more they kick you off the air if you finish this poem."
General references Dawson, Jim. Who Cut the Cheese?: A Cultural History of the Fart,
References