| "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Song by Fred Heatherton | |
| Label | Box and Cox Publications |
| Songwriter(s) | Fred Heatherton |
"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" is a novelty song composed in 1944 (as "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts") by Fred Heatherton, a songwriting pseudonym for a collaboration of English songwriters Harold Elton Box and Desmond Cox, with Lewis Ilda (itself a pseudonym of American songwriter Irwin Dash).[1] The song was published by Box and Cox Publications (ASCAP).
The song celebrates the coconut shy (coconut toss) at funfairs, and the chorus of "Roll or bowl a ball a penny a pitch"[2] is based on the call of the showman "standing underneath the flare" (of gaslight), inviting the public to play. The ball is tossed or bowled (as in cricket) or pitched at the coconuts with the object of knocking one off its stand.
- ^ "Fred Heatherton". Discogs. 2014. Retrieved 2017-06-12.
- ^ "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts … but why?", 100 Years of Coconuts