Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit

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"Beans, Beans, The Magical Fruit" (alternately "Beans, Beans, good for your heart") is a playground saying and children's song about the capacity for beans to contribute to flatulence.[1]

The basis of the song (and bean/fart humor in general) is the high amount of oligosaccharides present in beans. Bacteria in the large intestine digest these sugars, producing carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. These gases are expelled from the body as flatulence.[2]

Lyrics[edit]

Beans, beans, the magical fruit
The more you eat, the more you toot
The more you toot, the happier you feel.
So eat your beans with every meal![3]

Alternate lyrics include:

Beans, beans, good for your heart
The more you eat, the more you fart
The more you fart, the better you feel
Beans beans with every meal![4][5]

Popular culture[edit]

  • A version of the rhyme appears at the beginning of Robert Crumb's comic strip, "Crybaby's Blues".[6]
  • In The Simpsons season 4 episode 20 "Whacking Day," Bart performs a rendition of "Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit."[7]
  • The American bean brand Bush Brothers and Company wrote a related song with the singer Josh Groban.[8][9][10] 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)".[11]
  • 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."[12]

General references[edit]

  • Dawson, Jim. Who Cut the Cheese?: A Cultural History of the Fart, ISBN 1-58008-011-1

References[edit]

  1. ^ Carey, Bjorn Scientists take the ‘toot’ out of beans NBC News, April 25, 2006 (accessed November 17, 2007).
  2. ^ "Flatulence". MedicaLook.com. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  3. ^ Andrew Croft. "The Nature of Beans".
  4. ^ "Beans, Beans, They're Good for Your Heart - USA". Mama Lisa's World of Children and International Culture. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  5. ^ "Beans, Beans, They're Good for Your Heart – Baby Rhymes". 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  6. ^ Crumb, Robert. The Complete Crumb Comics Vol 11. Fantagraphics Books 1995, p.42. ISBN 978-1560971726. (Originally from Arcade #5, Spring 1976.)
  7. ^ "Recap / The Simpsons S 4 E 20 Whacking Day". TV Tropes. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  8. ^ "Josh Groban Opens Up About His Deeply Moving 'Bean Song'". Billboard. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  9. ^ Beans, Bush’s®. "Bush's® partners with singer, songwriter Josh Groban to give beans their rightful musical due with 'Bean Song'". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  10. ^ "Bush's Beans remixes 'bean song' with Josh Groban ballad". Marketing Dive. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  11. ^ Josh Groban - Bean Song | Bush's Beans, retrieved 2021-11-03
  12. ^ "Lookit the Fuzzy Heads/No Face Like Home". Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs. Season 1. Episode 64. 16 May 1994. Dot's Poetry Corner.