Song of the Day: The Banana Splits “Gonna Find a Cave”

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour ran on NBC from 1968-1970. Though the Saturday morning cartoon about a rock band composed of four animals – Fleegle (guitar, vocals), Bingo (drums, vocals), Drooper (bass, vocals) and Snorky (keyboards, effects) only ran for thirty episodes, they did manage to release an album and a few singles. Mixing live action and animation (a first) the Banana Splits musical numbers were directed by Ritchie Adams and Mark Barkan with some help from well-known musicians like Al Kooper, Barry White and Gene Pitney. The group are an obvious precursor to subsequent cartoon band projects, most notably the group Gorillaz.

The song featured here was written by Jimmy Radcliffe who wrote songs for Ray Charles, Etta James, Eric Burdon, Jackie Wilson, Chet Baker and many more. Additionally, according to Wikipedia, “Radcliffe was the first African-American performing artist to write, produce and sing commercial jingles for the advertising industry”.

“Gonna Find a Cave” was written by Radcliffe and Buddy Scott in 1965 and first performed in 1966. The Banana Splits version (my favorite) is from 1968.