"Found a Peanut" is a traditional song, often considered a children's song, in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada and Israel. In Israel it is titled "I Swallowed a Peanut" (Balati Boten; בלעתי בוטן). It is popular to sing on long trips, as it has a very repetitive format which is easy to memorize, and can take a long time to sing. It is sung to the tune of "Oh My Darling, Clementine". It may often be sung around a camp fire.
Contents
Basic lyrics
A basic version of the variable lyrics is:
Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now. just now I found a peanut, found a peanut just now. Cracked it open, cracked it open, cracked it open just now just now I cracked it open, cracked it open just now. It was rotten, it was rotten, it was rotten just now, just now it was rotten, it was rotten just now.Then it continues with the same rhythm:
Ate it anyway got sick called the doctor said I wouldn't die died anyway went to Heaven met St Peter wouldn't take me sent back home went out walkingand restarts from "Found a peanut".
The Israeli/Hebrew Version
I swallowed a peanut, I swallowed a peanut, I swallowed a peanut yesterday night I swallowed a peanut, I swallowed a peanut, I swallowed a peanut yesterday nightMany variations
The simple repetitive structure of the song lends itself to near infinite variations. Sometimes "Just now" is substituted for "last night". Sometimes the verse will not reference the preceding verse as in the first example above.
Versions current in Baltimore in 1955 weren't quite as heavenly focused, and ended in: "Shoveling coal, shoveling coal, shoveling coal just now ..."
Another common variation on "last night" is "yesterday". This is used by "This Morning With Richard Not Judy" by Stewart Lee and Richard Herring.
Other substitutions include:
The Hebrew version sometimes introduces the verse: "Now I'm dead" (Akhshav ani met, עכשיו אני מת) before "I ascended to heaven". Sometimes "God" (Elohim, אלוהים), rather than "Gabriel" is used. Finally, sometimes before the recap either the verse: "So I answered him" (Az aniti lo, אז עניתי לו) or a single line: "So I answered him thus:" (Az aniti lo she-, -אז עניתי לו ש) is added.
Origins
Some attribute the song to Jack Schafer of Detroit, MI in 1958, although the song appears in the 1949 film A Letter to Three Wives. Those lyrics end at "Ate it anyway."
Other evidence, however, suggests that the song was widely known in the United States as early as the 1940s. A 1945 issue of the Florida Flambeau describes "Found a Peanut" as an "old song" from "high school days." Likewise, the Norwalk Hour described a performance of the song in a school talent show in 1942.
Appearance in popular culture
The 1949 film, A Letter to Three Wives.
The song appears during the film Tromeo and Juliet, where a family in a car are singing the song before they get into an accident. In the following scene, the character Detective Scalus says, "They found a peanut, all right, a peanut of death!"
The song also appears at the opening of the opera, The Abduction of Figaro, by Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach).
This Morning With Richard Not Judy by Stewart Lee and Richard Herring.
In Serial Mom, the 1994 American satirical comedy, Beverly Sutphin (played by Kathleen Turner) sings this song with her fellow prisoners as they ride on a bus en route to court.
A version appears on the 2009 Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds album, "Dracula Boots".
A version with somewhat different lyrics was released by Thee Midniters in 1966.
The Kidsongs Kids and their camp counselors Eddie and Monica sing this song on A Day at Camp in 1989 during their campfire medley.