[Verse 1] It was just after dark when the truck started down The hill that leads into Scranton, Pennsylvania [Refrain] Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas Carrying thirty thousand pounds Hit it big John Of bananas [Verse 2] He was a young driver, just out on his second job And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits For everyone in that coal-scarred city Where children play without despair In backyard slag piles and folks manage to eat each day [Refrain] About thirty thousand pounds of bananas Yes, just about thirty thousand pounds Scream it again, John Of bananas [Verse 3] He passed a sign that he should have seen Saying "Shift to low gear, a fifty dollar fine my friend" He was thinking perhaps about the warm-breath woman Who was waiting at the journey's end He started down the two mile drop The curving road that wound from the top of the hill He was pushing on through the shortening miles That ran down to the depot Just a few more miles to go Then he'd go home and have her ease his long, cramped day away [Refrain] And the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas Yes, the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas [Verse 4] He was picking up speed as the city spread Its twinkling lights below him But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts Of the night's delights went through him His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down But the pedal floored easy without a sound He said, "Christ!" It was funny how he had named the only man Who could save him now He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide Riding on his fear-hunched back Was every one of those yellow green [Refrain] I'm telling you thirty thousand pounds of bananas Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of bananas [Verse 5] He barely made the sweeping curve That led into the steepest grade And he missed the thankful passing bus At ninety miles an hour And he said, "God, make it a dream" As he rode his last tread down He said, "God, make it a dream" As he rode his last tread down And he sideswiped nineteen neat-parked cars Clipped off thirteen telephone poles Hit two houses, bruised eight trees And Blue Crossed seven people It was then he lost his head Not to mention an arm or two before he stopped And he smeared for four hundred yards Along the hill that leads into Scranton, Pennsylvania [Refrain] All those thirty thousand pounds of bananas [Verse 6] You know the man who told me about it on the bus As it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania He shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head, and he said And this is exactly what he said "Boy, it sure must've been something Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas" [Refrain] Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas Of bananas, bananas Just bananas Thirty thousand pounds of bananas Not no driver now, just bananas