"Coconut" is a novelty song written and first recorded by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, released as the third single from his 1971 album, Nilsson Schmilsson. It was on the U.S. Billboard charts for 14 weeks, reaching #8, and was ranked by Billboard as the #66 song for 1972. It charted minorly in the UK, reaching #42. "Coconut" did best in Canada, where it peaked at #5. It was later featured in the films Reservoir Dogs, Practical Magic, and The Addams Family also . In 1998, a cover version was released by Australian singer Dannii Minogue as a single, peaking at #62 on the ARIAsingles chart.
Lyrics
The lyrics feature four characters, three of whom are sung in different voices by Nilsson. The song describes a story in which a woman has a stomachache and calls her doctor who prescribes her the same drink that gave her the stomachache. With the help of her brother, they concoct a beverage consisting oflime and coconut. When the sister calls the doctor late at night, the doctor laughs her off and recommends that she "put the lime in the coconut and drink 'em both together"—then call him in the morning.
Music
There are no chord changes in the song: an arpeggiated C7th accompanies the song.
recorded the song in 1994 with UK dance producers DNA. When Minogue parted ways with Mushroom Records in 1995 and signed to Eternal Records in 1996, she had the track remixed by producers Flexifinger. The track was originally used as a hidden bonus track on her third album Girl. It was subsequently released in Australia on 16 November 1998 as the fourth and final single from that album, peaking at #62 on the ARIA singles chart upon its debut, on the chart dated week commencing 23 November 1998. In 2009, the original version of "Coconut" was made available on the compilation The 1995 Sessions.
Kermit the Frog and other Muppet characters covered the song in a sketch on The Muppet Show. The scene showed Kermit in a hospital bed, having hurt his flipper slipping on some oil on the floor in the theater, joining hospital staff singing the song as the room developed a jungle theme.
The song was also used in commercials for Coca-Cola with Lime. These ads are set in a Coke factory and a corporate boardroom and feature various people incorrectly singing the line as "you put the lime in the Coke, you nut!"
The Baha Men covered the song in the ChalkZone episode "The Smooch".
In an episode of The Good Place, while in the midst of an existential breakdown, Chidi Anagonye proceeds to make a giant pot of chili in front of his class, while adding unorthodox ingredients and singing, "You put the Peeps in the chili pot and eat them both up/You put the Peeps in the chili pot and add the M&Ms/You put the Peeps in the chili pot, it makes it taste...bad."
Bones season 6 penultimate episode lab assistant Vincent Nigel-Murray is killed by a sniper, and in valediction the cast sing his favourite song at the suggestion of Dr Sweets.
Ty Segall recently recorded and released the song along with an entire cover version of the album which is offered for free download on Bandcamp as a free album of Harry Nilsson covers called Segall Smeagol after Nilsson Schmilsson.
