On March 18, 1965, an incident occurred on Moosic Street in Scranton, Pennsylvania that would rival even the most unhinged round of Mario Kart. After a tractor trailer lost control on Route 307 to Scranton, 15 tons of bananas flooded the street. This event later inspired singer-songwriter Harry Chapin to write the song “30,000 Pounds of Bananas,” which appeared on his 1974 album Verities & Balderdash.
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The song gained more popularity after a live version was also released on Chapin’s concert album Greatest Stories Live from 1976. Ever heard the phrase “Harry, it sucks”? This catchphrase, which became so well-known that fans would put it on t-shirts, originated with the live version of “30,000 Pounds of Bananas.”
Let’s start from the beginning of the story. According to a retrospective from the Scranton Times-Tribune, in March 1965, truck driver Eugene Sesky was delivering a shipment of 15 tons of bananas to a produce warehouse in Scranton. While driving along Route 307 into the city—which ended on Moosic Street—he lost control of his truck due to a mechanical failure. Unfortunately, the area of the road he was on had an elevation drop of 500 feet in less than a mile and a half.
1965 Truck Crash Claims the Life of Driver, Spills Bananas in the Road, and Inspires a Popular Song by Harry Chapin
Unable to control his truck, Sesky hit Scranton at around 90 mph. He collided with several cars before coming to a stop in the side of a house. Allegedly, he tried to warn pedestrians and other drivers to get out of the way before crashing, according to a 2001 report from the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. Unfortunately, the crash killed Sesky, as he was thrown from the truck when it overturned.
Many people would probably remember the incident by the huge amount of bananas strewn throughout Moosic Street, which was most likely a humorous story to read in the papers. However, for the residents of Scranton, it was a tragedy that stuck with them for a long time.
Almost 10 years later, Harry Chapin was inspired by the accident to write the song “30,000 Pounds of Bananas.” It follows a fictional account of the accident, but Chapin did something interesting with the tempo. After every verse, the song gets faster. According to Chapin in the live recording, this was a purposeful move to “build up intensity and excitement.”
“Harry, it sucks” was coined by Chapin’s brothers Tom and Steve, who exclaimed this particular phrase in the live recording after Chapin explained that he had two alternate endings for the song. The first ending included the 1923 song “Yes! We Have No Bananas.” The second ending was much more tragic, as it included a young mother weeping over her sleeping child. It also added the line “though she lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania / she never, ever eats bananas.” Apparently, this was meant to imply that the woman was the fictional truck driver’s widow.
Featured Image by David Redfern/Redferns
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