Banana Co.

Read "One Hundred Years Of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. There is a corrupt company in the book called the Banana Company.

This song may be making references to the evolution theory. Banana Co. is a corrupt company that distributes the bananas, and we're the apes.

"Oh Banana co. We really love you and we need you And oh banana co. We'd really love to believe you"

What he's probably saying is that we think we're so civilized in our day and age with all of the communities we've developed and the way of life we've established. We're no longer hunting out on the plain, but instead getting all our goods from the grocery store. In the end, though, we're just animals, and our way of life is probably killing us. Our consumerism has distracted us from what life really is.

"And everything's underground We've gotta dig it up somehow Yeah yeah Everything's burning down We gotta put it out somehow Yeah yeah"

I don't know. It's just my 2 cents.

It actually has to do with this, as told by Radiohead themselves: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_massacre

anopheles has it - the song's about the Banana Company (aka United Fruit Company), a supremely corrupt company (with heavy ties to American politics and legislature) in South America that exploited the hell out of its workers, often killing hundreds of them, and then selling their innocent bundles of fruit to other countries. so, yeah.... this song i'm assuming is from a worker's perspective saying how he'd love to trust the company but as history has shown it shouldn't be trusted.

I agree with the South American banana trade idea. Though I think it can be extended beyond that. Banana co. may not be around anymore but Nike and the likes still are.

Oh she said "No go" She said she'd like to She's seen you But no, no go She knows if you die then we all do

Hmmm, the company may be exploting people but if it doesn't exist nor does the livlihood of both employees and comsumers. Bad pay and conditions is better than no pay. She says no go. A sympathiser to an extend but if the company dies so do the lives of the workers. One person vs many.

And everything's underground We've gotta dig it up somehow Yeah yeah Everything's burning down We gotta put it out somehow Yeah yeah

The situation is not widely understood, consumers are blissfully unaware. It's not sustainable but no solutions are being sought or presented.

my 2 pesos.

I agree with someone. Radiohead's songs are hard to disect! I'm thinkging Banana co. justs sounds cool and means something completely unrelated. Or it has no meaning. Some songs are like that.

I've seen a live recording (youtube) and at the end Thom says "that was for Indonesia... (cough) and all the people who have money invested there."

That seems to agree with the corrupt company idea, but in Indonesia not S. America. Anyone know if they grow bananas in Indonesia?!

It's about this tragic real-life event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_massacre

Anopheles has it right. This song was inspired by One Hundred Years of Solitude. But this part of the book was based on facts. "La Masacre Bananera" occurred in the late 1920's in Cienaga Colombia, where the national army paid off by The United Fruit Company killed hundreds or thousands of banana workers. http://www.columbiapoliticalreview.com/diego.htm

"But everything is underground

We got to dig it up somehow"

Gabriel Garcia Marquez grew up hearing this story from so many people, so many times that it became almost a myth and the actual number of victims got lost somewhere in the oral tradition of the Colombian coast.

"She knows [Ursula] if you die then we all do"

The United Fruit Company got into the little Colombian town with promises of prosperity and wealth for its people. It became the center of all for this town, to the point that after The United Fruit Company left, the town was complete lost without a path to follow.

I'm a chiquita banana and I'm here to say, I am the best banana in the world today...etc etc