Are you ready, kids?
Aye, Aye Captain!
I can’t hear you!
Aye, Aye Captain!
O-hhhhhhhhhh……Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
If nautical nonsense be something you wish…
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Then hop on the deck and flop like a fish!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Ready?
SpongeBob SquarePants! SpongeBob SquarePants! SpongeBooob SquarePaaaaaaaaaants!
At the end of the walled garden in Dunmore Park is The Pineapple. It is a folly par excellence, a stone fruit to revitalise the most jaded architect’s palate. This gigantic reproduction of the now familiar fruit dwarfs the surrounding trees, the most singular monument to come out of the little practised art of fruit architecture. In 1761 the twenty-nine year old John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore, had been married two years. Perhaps it was his marriage going sour that prompted the enormous fruit; or was it intended as a belated wedding present; or the result of a frivolous wager; or to commemorate the growing of a pineapple (not the first — they had been grown in hothouses in Scotland for nearly thirty years), but whatever the reason, this extraordinary building never fails to astonish.
The building was planned and designed with the utmost care, with each of the gently curving leaves being drained separately in order to prevent frost damaging the delicate masonry. There are two entrances: a classical loggia to the south and a Gothick doorway to the north on the upper level, leading into the second storey. The keystone above the south entrance carries the date 1761, and above this is a carved heart and the inscription “FIDELIS IN ADVERSIS,” commemorating the marriage of George Murray, the fifth Earl of Dunmore, to the daughter of the Duke of Hamilton in 1803. Some years ago the Landmark Trust took the building on a long lease from the National Trust for Scotland and carefully restored it for letting as a holiday home. A hermit’s cave has been reported nearby, so perhaps the Pineapple was not the only Dunmore folly. Sadly the name of the designer of this wonderful structure has not been recorded — it is a work of genius, certainly unique and probably impossible to duplicate nowadays. Tradition ascribes it to Sir William Chambers, but he was working in London at the time it was built and it is not mentioned in his writings, as such a remarkable building surely would have been.
Dole guides pose beneath the pineapple water tower, a famous Honolulu landmark. More than 100,000 visitors each year tour spick-and-span Dole “kitchen”, the world’s largest fruit cannery. Jim Dole started Hawaii’s pineapple industry in 1901.
The Dole “pineapple” water tower was one of the distinguishing landmarks on the Honolulu cityscape for more than 60 years. Standing more than a hundred feet tall, including the office building it was attached to, it was one of the tallest structures on Oahu prior to World War II.
Designed and erected in 1927, it held 100,000 gallons of water and weighed 30 tons. It was better known than the “peach” water towers of Clanton, Ala., and Gaffney, S.C.; than the giant Brooks Foods ketchup-bottle water tower of Cillinsville, Ill.; even better known than the Libby Foods ear-of-corn water tower in Rochester, Minn.
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Dancing girl with canned pineapple, noted product of Okinawa, in her hands.When I placed an order for postcards featuring “dancing girls,” this isn’t necessarily what I had in mind…
The famous Dole Pineapple Stand — Key stop on all the “Around Oahu” Tours — Pineapple never tastes better than freshly picked and chilled.
Visitors and islanders enjoy sampling ripe fresh Royal Hawaiian pineapple at Dole’s “space age” fruit stand in the middle of fields at Wahiawa.
One of Hawaii’s big crops is pineapples, appropriately called “the King of Fruits, by Nature Crowned.”
My initial response to seeing this postcard was, “What are leaders of the Free German Youth doing picking pineapples in Hawaii?”
But after taking a closer look I realized it was most likely just a promotional shot from the never-released made-for-TV movie, Miss Hathaway Takes A Holiday.
No caption.
Let’s get one thing straight, people: The pineapple is not a toy. Just look at this description of the pineapple plant’s foliage:
“The long, pointed leaves are 20-72 in. in length, usually needle-tipped and generally bearing sharp, upcurved spines on the margins.”
That’s not a fruit, that’s a weapon! Yet look how blithely The Pineapple Girl holds her spiky namesake. Oblivious to the hazards, she beams at the camera, not realizing that one of those pointed, needle-tipped, sharp spines is about to puncture her cornea.
But that’s not all…
Toxicity
Workers who cut up pineapples have their fingerprints almost completely obliterated by pressure and the keratolytic effect of bromelain (calcium oxalate crystals and citric acid were excluded as the cause).
The recurved hooks on the left margins can painfully injure one.
Mitchell and Rook (1979) also restated earlier work on “pineapple estate pyosis” occurring in workers who gather the fruits, probably an acarus infestation with secondary bacterial infection.
Angular stomatitis can result from eating the fruit.
Ethyl acrylate, found in the fruits, produced sensitisation in 10 of 24 subjects “by a maximisation test.” Ethyl acrylate is used in creams, detergents, food, lotions, perfumes, and soaps.
In “therapeutic doses”, bromelain may cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, skin rash, and menorrhagia. Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk (1969-1979) restate a report, unavailable to me, of unusual toxic symptoms following ingestion of the fruit, heart failure with cyanosis and ecchymoses, followed by collapse and coma and sometimes death (Duke, 1984b).
Purdue University
Center for New Crops & Plant Products
So, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake: “Topsy-Turvy Treat” or “Dessert of Death?”
No caption.
Kirsten, in Savannah, Georgia, sent in these photos of two pineapples gracing the side garden of the house on the corner of Whitaker and Gaston, in Savannah’s Landmark Historic District.
I think they’re a nice combination of the old and the new…the architectural and the artistic…the columnar and the contemporary…the weathered and the welded…the Grecian and the green-ish…
OK, I’ll stop.
Kirsten, by the way, is the proprietress of TurnOfTheCenturies.com, which I need to keep in mind for next year’s Christmas cards. Or perhaps I should order some of her hypothetical housewarming cards for my hypothetical housewarming next year.
No caption.
I love this postcard. Perhaps it’s the unusual presentation of the pineapples, or the hand-tinting, or the fact that the name of the city in Ceylon reminds me of a Martin Sexton song. Or perhaps I’m just a sucker for any postcard featuring a fabulous pineapple babe.
There’s actually a variety of pineapple called “Red Ceylon” (ananas comosus CV ‘Red Ceylon’), which is, quite appropriately, the most common pineapple grown in Sri Lanka (nee Ceylon) and India.
“The leaves are dark green with broad red central stripe and red spines on the margins. The fruit is small, 3 to 5 lbs (1.36-2.25 kg), yellow externally; has a thin core and very sweet flesh.”
Source: Purdue University’s
Center for New Crops & Plants Products
However, in 2000, Géo Coppens D’Eeckenbrugge and Freddy Leal had the audacity to suggest in The Application of the International Code of Nomenclature to Pineapple Cultivars that the “Red Ceylon” was the horticultural equivalent of an urban legend:
“Following the code, ‘Smooth Cayenne’ is clearly a cultivar….’Queen’ is also a cultivar. A detailed study might allow distinguishing clear differences between local populations or between clonal selections. However no sufficient data exist. Shoot and slip numbers are particularly variable traits. Some selections exhibit particular vigor, as ‘Mc Gregor’, but they cannot be distinguished from other similar selections. Thus, names as ‘Mauritius,’ ‘Malacca,’ ‘Red Ceylon,’ and ‘Buitenzorg.’ ‘Ripley Queen’, ‘Alexandra’ and ‘Mc Gregor’ must be considered synonyms to ‘Queen’. Only the tetraploid ‘Z’ or ‘James Queen’, found in South Africa (Nyenhuis, 1974), must be considered a distinct cultivar.”
Rubbish! And if you’re going to consolidate the naming conventions, surely an exotic name like “Red Ceylon” should win out over something as bland as “Queen.”
But they’re right about “Buitenzorg,” which should be taken out behind the nomenclature shed and put out of its misery.
Prepare topping first.
- Melt 3 tbsps. butter or margarine in 9” round or 8”x8”x2” square pan.
- Sprinkle with ½ cup brown sugar.
- Over sugar arrange 4 slices Dole pineapple and Maraschino cherries.
Set aside while mixing cake part.
- Cream 1⁄3 cup shortening with ½ cup sugar.
- Add 1 egg, unbeaten, and 1 tsp. vanilla.
- Sift together 1¼ cups sifted flour, ¼ tsp. salt, 1½ tsps. baking powder.
- Add to first mixture alternately with ½ cup syrup drained from pineapple, beating smooth after each addition.
- Spread batter over pineapple in pan and bake in moderate oven (350°) 50 to 60 min.
- Turn out on plate, serve warm with whipped cream.
Serves 6 to 8.
This postcard is in honor of Chronicler’s Kitchen Krafts find. I haven’t tried the recipe yet, but surely any company-sponsored recipe found on the back of a cheap, hyper-saturated, out-of-register postcard from the mid-60s has got to be delicious, right?
The gorgeous taste of fully ripened pineapple, imposing as a southern island king crowned in glory, is yours to enjoy in every soft and juicy Kasugai Pineapple Gummy.
Another great product description from Kasugai. (Remember their Grape Gummies?)
I really like the idea that a taste can be “gorgeous.”
No caption.
Photoshop, Schmotoshop.
Why bother with pricey digital image manipulation tools when you can create a virtually undetectable specimen like this with nothing more than a pair of safety scissors, the grocery circular from Sunday’s paper, a couple of felt-tipped markers, and a glue stick.
And notice the faint, sketched lines on either side of the cheery observer’s gesturing arm, which adds the illusion of motion to what is already an uncanny study in superimposition, depth of field and perspective.
As an added bonus, this postcard had the following message on the reverse:
10 Aug 1973
We are having a ball.
Our room faces Diamond Head.
We’re sure eating our fill.
The weather is just beautiful.Aloha from Hawaii,
Glen & Ida
…which appears to be some sort of vacation/travel free verse consisting of a quatrain with five words per line and adhering to the following rules:
Here’s my first attempt at the form:
24 May 2007
I really hate this place.
My room is quite small.
I’ve just been lying around.
I wish you were here.All the best,
Grettir
Hawaiian fruits and vegetables identified from top, clockwise: Pineapple, papaya (green and gold), mangoes (red blush), egg plant (dark purple), Chinese preserving melon (pale green, smooth), bitter melons (light green, crinkled), avocado (dark green at bottom), bananas, and husked coconuts. In her hair, the girl wears red hibiscus, Hawaii’s official flower; the lei is of plumeria or frangipani.
Raising pineapples in Hawaii is second only to the sugar industry. Pineapples do not grow on trees nor in cans! Stranger still, they are planted in paper!
No caption.
The cows in this postcard don’t seem to be terribly impressed by either the pineapple or the gentleman climbing it. They’re probably thinking…
Great. Another extreme fruit climber.
Hey, dude! Give it up! There was a guy here last week who scaled a mango twice that size in less than 30 seconds. Why don’t you come back when you’ve found a four-story pomegranate.
And, dude, who picked out your outfit this morning? A fundoshi probably wasn’t the best choice for this particular activity. When you come down it’ll be like sliding down a grater. It’s going to grind your butt cheeks down to the bone!
A familiar Honolulu landmark is this 100,000 gallon water tank on top of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company plant, the world’s largest fruit packing establishment, in which as many as 4,335,726 cans of DOLE Hawaiian Pineapple Products have been put up in a single day.
According to the caption, this is a “Natural Color Photograph.”
Sun-ripened and sweet — a golden girl with a golden Hawaiian pineapple.
Palaku momona — he ohi ‘ehu a he halakahi melemele.
Sun-ripened and sweet — a golden girl with a golden Hawaiian pineapple.
Palaku momona — he ohi ‘ehu a he halakahi melemele.
Roughly translated, “Palaku momona — he ohi ‘ehu a he halakahi melemele,” means, “Wait a minute. Haven’t I seen that caption somewhere before?”
62 — MARTINIQUE
Récolte d’ananas au Morne Rouge.
Pine apple [sic] gathering.
This postcard is from Le Morne-Rouge, a small town located in the northern part of the island of Martinique. Le Morne-Rouge is, apparently, a hotbed of pineapple activity.
“This village stretches to the foot of Mont Pelée. For those who want to climb the majestic mountain, it is best to hire a guide. Le Morne-Rouge also is known for its pineapple jam, anthurium plantations and well-known spring waters, which are bottled here.”
Just keep in mind that the “majestic mountain” also happens to be a volcano, whose massive 1902 eruption earned it the distinction of being the third most deadly volcanic eruption of all time.
Martinique’s love of the pineapple has also “erupted” in the form of rare and exotic culinary traditions.
“The tourist development in Martinique has not disturbed the charm of these quiet districts where the small sail boats are still called ‘gomyés’, where the grandmothers still know how to prepare soursop fritters, where the pineapple slices served with the ti’punch of Martinique are cut in a fancy way.”
Pineapple “cut in a fancy way!?!” If that doesn’t make you want to get off your duff and book a flight right now, then someone needs to check you for a pulse.
In 1997, Martinique played host to the Second International Pineapple Symposium, where B. Aubéry presented a paper entitled Pineapple Production in Northern Martinique which probably talks about Le Morne-Rouge in some detail, but I’m too cheap to pay the €10 to find out.
Besides, I think my money would be better spent on the gripping On Farm Approach Of Pineapple Fruitlet Core Rot Disease In Martinique (F. Marie, E. Malezieux, J. Marchal, X. Perrier), from the Third (and probably better) International Pineapple Symposium (Thailand, 2000).
HAWAIIAN LANDMARK — Looming high on Honolulu’s skyline is the “world’s largest pineapple,” which each year guides many thousands of visitors to the world’s largest fruit cannery, home of famed Dole products. The “pineapple” is actually a company-owned water reservoir—capacity 100,000 gallons.
“The Pineapple Express.” It’s a funny little old engine, and the coaches aren’t much, but it performs the important job of transporting many workers to the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard.
No caption.That’s nothin’. The “Giant Kew,” which is one of the most popular varieties in India, commonly reaches 20 pounds. But the “Giant Kew” has a giant core, which, once it is removed, leaves a hole so massive that they can’t use it for canned slices.
A Florida winter is glorious—
It’s summers are equally fine;
For rain cools the air, and always a breeze
Is shaking the long needle pine.
Farmers Market
Visitors are always welcome here. Among the many things to see, are the eye-catching fruit displays.
C161 — Laying Mulch Paper
The mulch paper is laid in long strips on the ground, and Pineapple slips are inserted through punctures in the paper. This conserves the moisture and allows the Pineapple slip to grow unmolested by weeds.
This postcard comes before C162 — Planting Pineapple in the series, but this one is (thankfully) posterior-free…
Libby’s Comes Only From Hawaii
An example of early feminism in advertising? The Gidget in front isn’t having any trouble riding her log, while the Barney in the background can’t even stand up.
Pineapple Growing
Sweet, delicious Hawaiian pineapples are grown on most of the Islands and one of Hawaii’s chief exports. The pineapples ripen to full maturity in 18 to 20 months and are hand-picked for shipment to canneries for processing.
No caption.
My parents had a couch made out of that same fabric…
No caption.
A scowling youth,
Vaguely Karloffesque,
Crouches,
Knife in hand,
Decapitating pineapples.
Pineapple Harvesting…Libby’s modern machinery and skillful pickers labor together in Hawaii’s fertile pineapple fields harvesting the “King of Fruits.”
The mechanical harvesting machine which extends across the pineapple fields. Field hands walk behind the boom and handpick the ripe fruit selectively, place it on the arm, and a conveyer rolls it into the truck. Note the rich red highly mineralized soil on which Hawaii’s second largest industry depends.
Hawaii’s Best, America’s Favorite!
Visitors and islanders enjoy sampling ripe fresh Royal Hawaiian pineapple at Dole’s “space age” fruit stand in the middle of the fields at Wahiawa.
stun
- Function: transitive verb
- Infelcted Form(s): stunned; stun·ning
- Etymology: Middle English stonen, stunen, from Anglo-French estoner
- to make senseless, groggy, or dizzy by or as if by a blow.
- to overcome especially with paralyzing astonishment or disbelief.
"After the pineapple slip has been planted through holes made in the mulch paper, it grows to maturity in about a year and a half. Then, it bears, at intervals of six months, a total of about a dozen pines, by which time its life cycle is finished."
I have to wonder how many copies of this postcard they sold back in the 1940s. It seems to me that the market for such a thing would be...not large.
"Honey, the luau starts at 6 o'clock, so I'm going to find a beach chair by the pool and read until then. If you're going out, could you see if they have anything in the gift shop that we can add to our collection of Hawaiian souvenirs featuring agricultural workers' butts?"
GIFT SHOP and FRUIT STAND
Our Specialties: Frosty Pineapple Juice
Homemade Preserves and CandiesU.S. Hwy. 27, 4 miles South of Lake Placid, Florida
Open Daily 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
Bring Your Camera and Stroll Through Our Tropical Garden
A few of the pineapple pickin' beauties in Plantation Paradise only 4 miles south of Placid Tower, The Tower of Peace, Lake Placid, Florida, on toll free U.S. 27 South.
pine
verb [intrans.]
- suffer a mental and physical decline, esp. because of a broken heart. She thinks I am pining away from love.
- (pine for) miss and long for the return of. I was pining for my boyfriend.
Origin: Old English pinian [(cause to) suffer,] of Germanic origin; related to Dutch pijnen, German peinen 'experience pain,' also to obsolete pine [punishment]; ultimately based on Latin poena 'punishment.'
Here are two examples of turn-of-the-century postcard humor. Both feature a gentleman pining for a loved one and in both cases he's got a pineapple for a head. Get it? Pining? Pineapple? The wordplay is genius. And what's funnier than a guy with a pineapple for a head?
"I'm Crazy Pineapple-Head! And I want some candy! I don't have a normal head, I got a pineapple growing out of it! Now, give me some crazy candy! Ow-ooo, this pineapple makes me crazy!"
But would someone...anyone...care to explain that second example to me? "I'm no Indian but I do pine for you?"
Sure, the pineapple originated in the New World, but by the turn of the century the pineapple was most often associated with the South Pacific and the Far East, so surely it can't be referring to Native Americans. Yet the Republic of India has never been a major producer of pineapples, so what other explanation is there?
It makes about as much sense as...
...or...I'm no Lithuanian but I've bean missing you.
I'm no British North Bornean but I'm plum out of patience with your absence.
"The oval to cylindrical-shaped, compound fruit develops from many small fruits fused together. It is both juicy and fleshy with the stem serving as the fibrous core. The tough, waxy rind may be dark green, yellow, orange-yellow or reddish when the fruit is ripe. The flesh ranges from nearly white to yellow. In size the fruits are up to 12 in. long and weigh 1 to 10 pounds or more."
- California Rare Fruit Growers' Pineapple Fruit Facts
"Luscious golden Hawaiian pineapple. One of Hawaii's most famous products."
"Field ripe pineapples ready for canning by Del Monte. Pineapple is a major crop in Hawaii, word's largest producer."
Turn-of-the-century bromeliadian variations on the giant jackalope theme.
A few years ago, my muse, my goddess, my all...Jodi...who I shall henceforth refer to as "She Who Will Some Day Be Mine," was kind enough to create an original pineapple picture for me which I posted in the Tiny Pineapple Gallery under the title "L'ananas de Jodi."
Since then, "L'ananas de Jodi"...or "Jodi's Pineapple"...or "The Pineapple of She Who Will Some Day Be Mine" (although that last one sounds like a Renaissance-era anatomical euphemism)...has become one of the most popular exhibits in the Tiny Pineapple Gallery. So popular, in fact, that I once received a serious inquiry from someone who actually wanted to buy the "original."
Well, what many people don't know is that She Who Will Some Day Be Mine...or "Jodi," as she is sometimes referred to by They For Whom She Will Not Some Day Be...occasionally takes a respite from chronicling her encounters with couscous, canines, and chronometers to snap pictures of pineapples she chances upon during her madcap, gadabout, bohemian, big city jaunts.
I present them here now, not only to showcase the work of a goddess artist, but also in hopes of eliciting a monetary offer for the "originals" sufficient for me to purchase a plane ticket to New York where I will camp on her doorstep and recite breathtakingly overripe love poems night and day until she promises to marry me...or has me committed, whichever comes first.
The first illustration of a pineapple in the New World appeared in 1535 in the 19-volume La Historia general de las Indias by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés.
"Gonzalo Oviedo sailed in 1514 on the first of his many journeys to America, where he compiled detailed descriptions and woodcut illustrations of products and goods found in the New World. The Spaniard introduced Europe to an enormous variety of previously unheard of 'exotica,' including the pineapple, the canoe, smoking tobacco, the manatee, and the hammock. Along with Pedro Mértir de Anglería and Bartolomé de Las Casas, Oviedo was one of the first European 'chroniclers of the Indies' having written two comprehensive works on America, including the rare Historia."
I'm a bit baffled by the perspective in this 17-century engraving. Either the pineapples in the foreground are quite close and the people in the background are quite far away, or those are two very non-tiny pineapples.
"...Astonishingly beautiful illustrations of citrus fruits, flowers, exotic plants, landscapes, cities, villages, palaces, gardens and garden art (including sundials and an obelisk with Egyptian heiroglyphs), as well as garden, building and city plans, labyrinths, etc. Most of the plates show a large illustration of a fruit (or less often a flower) above a small view of the garden, village, city or region where it is found, resulting in frequently surreal effects reminiscent of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. Many include people engaged in various activities, and some of the botanical illustrations also include insects, spiders, birds, etc., including pests that damage the fruits: 'delightful views of the gardens and palaces of Germany, Austria and Italy' (Blunt); 'engraving as fine as this is not really improved by colour' (Raphael); 'the vignettes and tailpieces...are so attractive that they have often been borrowed to decorate later books' (Raphael)."
The pineapple on the left is from Christopher Jacob Trew's Plantae Selectae (Nuremberg, 1750-73), which was illustrated by Georg Dionysius Ehret.
"Georg Ehret was one of the finest flower painters in 18th century Europe, and his work still stands as a preeminent accomplishment of European botanical art. Born in Heidelburg to a market gardener, Ehret began his working life as a gardener's apprentice, eventually becoming a chief gardener for the Elector of Heidelburg and the Margrave of Baden, whose prize tulips and hyacinths he painted.
"Ehret soon moved on to a number of cities across Europe, collecting eminent friends and important patrons as he traveled. Ehret's list of benefactors includes the most brilliant and generous amateurs of his day, among whom was Dr. Christoph Trew, a wealthy Nuremburg physician who became his lifelong patron, friend and collaborator. Ehret also gained the admiration of Bernard de Jussieu in Paris, and the great Swedish naturalist Linnaeus. In England, where he eventually settled, Ehret became the only foreigner to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
"The Plantae Selectae was the culmination of many years' collaboration between Ehret and Trew. The 100 illustrations were selected for their exotic appeal and botanical interest. Many tropical subjects had only recently been introduced to Europe and were still unknown to the general public. Jacob and Haig translated Ehret's beautiful, accurate and remarkably sensuous watercolor studies into remarkably faithful hand-colored engravings. Plantae Selectae is certainly one of the most exquisite and dramatic of the great botanical works."
Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) was a renowned 19th-century botanist who served as the first "official" Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1841 to 1865.
"William Hooker's illustrations of plants combine meticulous accuracy and attention to the smallest detail with enormous graphic technique and graceful presentation, and are acknowledged masterpieces of botanical art. Hooker's illustrations of fruits are perhaps without equal. Both an artist and a gardener, Hooker had a remarkable knowledge of fruits. As a result, the Horticultural Society of London commissioned him to paint and describe about 150 of the most attractive and interesting varieties then being cultivated. The Pineapple series demonstrates his meticulous attention to detail and artistic skill, coupled with his extensive botanical knowledge of the subject."
- Original Source Unknown
These decals were placed on Maui Pineapple Co. vehicles in the 1960s to identify them for entry into the pineapple cannery complex. The decal color was changed to orange in 1970.
"A spectacular 50ft. high replica. Contains an observation deck and 2 floors of audio-visual displays of Queensland's tropical production. Overlooking the POLYNESIAN ROOM (tropical restaurant and gift shop) and a tour by SUGAR CANE TRAIN through scenic SUNSHINE PLANTATION."
"This Official Walt Disney World Good Neighbor hotel provides the best value in the Downtown Disney Resort Area. Located at the entrance to the Downtown Disney Resort Area and central to all of Orlando's great attractions. This first-class hotel features a colorful tropical-magic theme and is ideal for the vacationing family or the business traveler."
- Doubletree Club Hotel Web Site
My brother's in-laws had the opportunity to stay at this hotel when they were visiting Florida a while back. This large pineapple sits atop the entrance of the hotel, contributing, I suppose, to both the "colorful" and "tropical-magic" aspects of the "colorful tropical-magic theme."
Listen To A Clip: Pineapple Head (MP3 format, 32 seconds, 540k)
"Pineapple Head," written by Neil Finn, was included on Crowded House's 1993 album Together Alone. The image on the left is from the cover of the CD single of "Pineapple Head" that was available in the U.K. and Australia.
Neil Finn talked about the origins of the song in an interview with David Hepworth in the June 1994 issue of Mojo Magazine.
DH: "How do you start a song?"
NF: "I basically rely on getting my first few lines by just singing something and writing it down and not thinking about it at all. So initially I get just a natural image like sky, sea, sun, earth and then something very domestic like washing. The juxtaposition of those things is endlessly interesting."
DH: "Can you remember the process afterwards?"
NF: "'Pineapple Head' is an obvious example. It started with my son Liam who had a fever. He was delirious and I was standing by with a cloth to cool him down and he just started talking about all these things. 'Pineapple Head! Pineapple Head!' Then he said 'detective is flat' and 'getaway car'. So instead of staying there and doing what a father should do I ran downstairs and committed it to a song. Until my wife Sharon came in and looked at me in horror and said, 'What are you doing here?' At the time you've got to go. There's enough times when the idea pops into your head and you're not on the ball enough to write it down. Liam's 11 and I've exploited him mercilessly over the years. He wrote the line 'here comes Mrs. Hairy Legs' in 'Chocolate Cake.'"
DH: "So does 'Pineapple Head' mean anything?"
NF: "'Pineapple Head' has the least meaning in the literal sense of any of the songs on the record, but in a strange way for me it all makes perfect sense. Line by line anyway. And the chorus is put over from the point of view of a fever, a virus, inhabiting somebody. 'I'll play you like a shark and I'll clutch at your heart and come flying like a spark to inflame you.' The rest of it's just a stream of consciousness delirium put down on paper."
Here are the complete lyrics:
Pineapple Head
Detective is flat
No longer is always flat out
Got the number of the getaway car
Didn't get very far
As lucid as hell
These images moving so fast
Like a fever
So close to the bone
I don't feel too wellAnd if you choose
To take that pathI will play you like a shark
And I'll clutch at your heart
I'll come flying like a spark
To enflame youSleeping alone
For pleasure, the pineapple head
It spins and it spins
Like a number I hold
Don't remember if she was my friend
It was a long time agoAnd if you choose
To take that pathI will play you like a shark
And I'll clutch at your heart
I'll come flying like a spark
To enflame youSleeping alone
For pleasure, the pineapple head
It spins and it spins
Like a number I hold
Don't remember if she was my friend
It was a long time agoAnd if you choose
To take that path
Would you come to make me pay?
Listen To A Clip: Pineapple Princess (MP3 format, 27 seconds, 465k)
It could be argued that without "Pineapple Princess," from Annette Funicello's 1960 album Hawaiiannette, there would never have been "A Spoonful of Sugar," a "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," or a "Jolly Holiday" with or without Mary.
The Sherman brothers, Richard and Robert, were relatively unknown songwriters when they teamed up with Annette Funicello in 1958. While their first hit with Annette was "Tall Paul," co-written with Bob Roberts (no, not that Bob Roberts), it was their 1960 hit "Pineapple Princess," recorded by Annette and The Afterbeats, that reached #11 on the pop charts and established them solidly in the wonderful world of Disney.
After writing songs for both The Parent Trap (1961) and Summer Magic (1963) they were approached by Walt Disney to write the songs and the score for Mary Poppins (1964) and the rest is history.
They won Oscars for both "Best Musical Score" and "Best Song" (for "Chim Chim Cher-ee"), won the grammy for "Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show," and helped make Julie Andrews a movie star.
I hope that, at the very least, Ms. Andrews sent The Afterbeats a fruit basket as a token of her apprecation.
Here are the complete lyrics:
Pineapple Princess
"Pineapple Princess," he calls me, "Pineapple Princess," all day
As he plays his ukulele on the hill above the bay.
"Pineapple Princess, I love you, you're the sweetest girl I've seen.
Some day we're gonna marry and you'll be my Pineapple Queen."I saw a boy on Oahu isle
Floatin' down the bay on a crocodile.
He waved at me and he swam ashore
And I knew he'd be mine forevermore."Pineapple Princess," he calls me, "Pineapple Princess," all day
As he plays his ukulele on the hill above the bay.
"Pineapple Princess, I love you, you're the sweetest girl I've seen.
Some day we're gonna marry and you'll be my Pineapple Queen."He sings his song from banana trees
He even sings to me on his water skis.
We went skin-divin' and beneath the blue
He sang and played his ukulele, too."Pineapple Princess, I love you, you're the sweetest girl I've seen.
Some day we're gonna marry and you'll be my Pineapple Queen."We'll settle down in a bamboo hut
And he will be my own little coconut.
Then we'll be beachcombin' royalty
On wicky-wicky wacky Waikiki."Pineapple Princess," he calls me, "Pineapple Princess," all day
As he plays his ukulele on the hill above the bay.
"Pineapple Princess, I love you, you're the sweetest girl I've seen.
Some day we're gonna marry and you'll be my Pineapple Queen."
Listen To A Clip: Pineapple Rag (MP3 format, 26 seconds, 420k)
"Pine-apple Rag (1908): The third theme of this rag has the vocal quality that probably suggested its future use as a song; otherwise a strange choice. It is not particularly distinctive except for a joyful and very ragged second theme but is well enough constructed and substantial."
- Scott Joplin and the Ragtime Era
"Not particularly distinctive," my eye! The mere mention of that most noble of bromeliads in the title elevates the song above all of Mr. Joplin's other botanical rags: "Maple Leaf Rag," "Sugar Cane Rag," "Sunflower Slow Rag," "Palm Leaf Rag," "Gladiolus Rag," "Rose Leaf Rag," and "Fig Leaf Rag."
Tiny Pineapple is the home of Grettir Asmundarson, ne'er-do-well, sluggard, and wastrel.
C162—Planting Pineapple
Plantation Paradise
Plantation Paradise: Welcome
Plantation Paradise: Interior
Plantation Paradise: Pineapple Pickin' Beauties
How I Do Pine For You
I'm No Indian But I Do Pine For You
An Ample Harvest
Luscious Golden Hawaiian Pineapple
Field Ripe Pineapples
A Good Wagon Load
Hauling Pineapples
Vendedora de Piñas
l’Ananas de Jodi
West 10th Street
West 10th Street (Detail)
ABC Pineapple
Jamaican Pineapple Soda
First Pineapple Illustration
17th-Century Pineapple Engraving
Page 136
Page 137
Page 138
Page 150
Ananas aculeatus
Black Jamaican Pineapple
Queen Pineapple
Welbeck Pineapple
Enville Pineapple
Maui Pineapple Co. Decal
The Big Pineapple
Doubletree Club Hotel
Pineapple Head CD Single
Hawaiiannette Album Cover
Pineapple Princess Single
Pineapple Rag Sheet Music
