A third grader named Marisa taught me a hand clapping rhyme called “Hannah Banana”. It comes from a jump rope rhyme called “Anna Banana”. The lyrics to “Anna Banana” are:
Anna Banana
Plays the piana.
All she can play
Is, “The Star Spangled Banner”.
Anna, Banana Split!
“Hannah Banana”, on the other hand, is a hand clapping rhyme. What’s interesting to me is that “Anna” switched to “Hannah”. We have two theories about why this might have happened. The first is simply is that “Hannah” is now a more popular name in the US than “Anna”. Children on the playground may have heard “Anna” as “Hannah” since the names sound so similar, and switched it. Our other theory is that “Hannah Banana” is somewhat close to “Hannah Montana”, the popular character from the children’s TV show. Children may have switched the rhyme to “Hannah Banana” based on that similarity. We may never know for sure why there’s now a version of “Anna Banana” called “Hannah Banana”, but it’s interesting to speculate.
Here’s the new rhyme “Hannah Banana”, with instructions for playing it and an mp3 of Marisa chanting it…
Hannah Banana
Plays the piana
All she could play
Is, “Split She’s an Idiot”.
(Repeat)Istructions for Hand Clapping Game:
1st 3 lines of Rhyme:1. Clap your own hands
2. Clap your partner’s hand diagonally
3. Clap your own hands
4. Clap your partner’s other hand diagonally
5. Repeat 1 – 4Last line of Rhyme: Move feet out (like a little split).
Keep repeating the rhyme – each time moving feet out more on the last line – whoever falls over first loses.
Many thanks to Marisa for teaching me this rhyme and for chanting it for us!
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa Banana
This article was posted on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 3:59 pm and is filed under American Kids Songs, Anna Banana, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, English, Games Around the World, Hand Clapping Rhymes, Hannah Banana, Holidays Around the World, Jump Rope, Jump Rope Rhymes, Languages, Mama Lisa, MP3 Recordings, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Recordings of Nursery Rhymes, United Kingdom, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
7 Responses to “Lyrics to Anna Banana and Hannah Banana with an MP3”
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June 6th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Dear Lisa,
You might be able to help me in the following. I am searching for Spanish nicknames of the word „Abuela”. In English we can say grandmammy or grandma, etc….so I would love to know its equivalents in Spanish. Do they have any cute way to call the Grandmother?
P. S It is again not in the correct place for my question, but I do not really know where shall I put my general questions up….
Your eternal on-line fan,
Tinker Jack
June 8th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Hi Tinker Jack,
There’s a whole post with different ways to say grandma around the world. You can click the link to see it.
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
Mama Lisa
June 30th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
HI MILEY CYRUS ♥ I AM YOUR NUMBER ONE FAN I LOVE ALL YOUR SONGS I KNOW ALL YOUR SONGS SO U DO HAVE 1 MORE FAN BUT SHE IS NOT AS MAD AS ME SHE IS CALLED Hannah and i am called Grace nice to talk to u bye ….♥☻☺
June 30th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I LOVE YOUR SONGS MAMA LISA
FROM caseyx
April 17th, 2010 at 10:18 am
Miley Cyrus is such a outstanding artist. I have all of her albums.
June 11th, 2012 at 8:19 pm
That hannah banana song sucks. I downloaded it for my handicapped daughter and it made her cry :(
November 26th, 2019 at 2:53 pm
Boys are notorious for creating mocking versions of the girls’ jump rope songs. My husband was a boy in the 30s and the version he knows is “Anna Banana played the piana, her father played the drum. Her mother played the broomstick on Anna Banana’s bum.
It was nice to finally see the original here.