Some songs are born out of joy, some out of heartbreak. Others are ripped straight from the headlines because they are so astonishing. FreightWaves Classics has covered the origins of songs that came about in just this way, like Casey Jones and his heroic act of self-sacrifice in a train accident and the Edmund Fitzgerald that sank in Lake Superior.
“30,000 Pounds of Bananas” by the folk artist Harry Chapin is a song born out of tragedy and a moment of shocking altruism, similar to Jones’ story. The song tells the harrowing tale of a disastrous truck accident involving — you guessed it — 15 tons of bananas.
The accident took place on March 18, 1965, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and would leave a lasting impression on witnesses, victims and the trucking industry for years to come. But the crash itself is not what made this worthy of a lasting folk song. It was the courage of the driver in keeping others safe that made this story special … as well as the bananas.
According to a contemporaneous Scranton Times article about the incident, a truck carrying 15 tons of bananas lost control traveling down a steep hill on Moosic Street on its way to the A&P Warehouse. An investigation points to either the clutch or the brakes in the truck failing, causing the driver, Gene Sesky, to careen down the hill.
Sesky could have jumped out of the vehicle and saved his own life, but likely at the cost of others. That is not what he did.
In an interview with the local ABC news station in 2015 looking back on the accident, Sesky’s son, also named Gene, explained that his father remained behind the wheel attempting to maintain control as much as he could while blaring the horn and warning others in cars and pedestrians to get out of the way. The truck was also on fire.
“He chose not to jump out of that truck. And he was on the fuel tank of the truck with the door open, blowing the air horn, steering the truck with the other hand, yelling for people to get out of the way,” the younger Sesky said in the interview.
The truck reached more than 100 mph as people tried frantically to maneuver out of the way. The ordeal ended when Sesky crashed at the corner of South Irving Avenue and Moosic Street. He was killed instantly at 33 years old, leaving behind his wife, 10-year old Gene and two daughters. No one else was killed.
The cargo of 30,000 pounds of bananas was strewn all over the street in Scranton.
Despite the tragedy, the younger Sesky followed in his father’s footsteps as he came of age and became a truck driver himself, ABC News said.
The 2015 article provided eyewitness testimony from a man, Bill Shoemaker, who was 22 years old at the time, driving with his family in a car on Moosic Street that day. When he saw the truck coming toward him, he was able to jump the car onto the curb after hearing the horn and seeing Sesky’s warnings. The truck did clip the car but not head-on like it would have had he not been able to get out of the way. His family was safe, though he needed almost 100 stitches in his head.
“I say how lucky I was that I was 22 years old and able to grab that wheel and turn it and jump the curb and get up partway on the sidewalk or I definitely wouldn’t be here,” Shoemaker told ABC.
Singer and songwriter Harry Chapin discovered the story while traveling on a Greyhound bus and wrote a poem about it, according to his widow, Sandy Chapin. In an interview with Songfacts, she explained that he later found the poem in one of his notebooks and decided to put it to music.
Many of his songs were captivating stories that resonated with audiences and garnered him a loyal following. The visual image of bananas covering the road in the middle of such a horrific accident mixed with the heroism of the story grabbed the artist. It took on a life of its own when it grabbed the audience in the same way.
Chapin explained the process of the song’s creation in a later live album, “Greatest Stories Live,” after the tune became popular. He explained how meticulous he was in writing it. He researched the accident, gathering details from local news reports and witness accounts. It was both humorous and tragic — making for a great song.
The song was released on the 1974 album “Verities & Balderdash” and again on the aforementioned live album with two alternative endings and banter on stage about how he struggled with ending the song. It brings the listener along for the ride. As the truck picks up speed in the story, so does the song in tempo.
“Yes there were 30,000 pounds of mashed bananas,” Chapin sings.
Chapin would ironically meet a similar fate as the driver in his famous song. He was killed in a car accident in 1981, just seven years after the song’s release.
“30,000 Pounds of Bananas” is a testament to the power of storytelling and Chapin’s ability to take a tragic accident and turn it into a compelling song. The true story behind the song, while heartbreaking, left a mark on both the world of music and trucking.
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