It is sung by a little boy who, in the course of his attempts to open his resilient coconut, demolishes the family's furniture, disfigures his mother, and finally blows their house up. This version, 'Far jag kan inte få upp min kokosnöt' ('Dad I can't crack my coconut open'), has little to do with the original. Swedish performer Povel Ramel wrote a Swedish version of the song in 1950.

In the first episode of the 1977 sitcom Mind Your Language it is mentioned that a professor went crazy and sang this song. Actors Hayden Rorke and Bill Daily performed a few lines of the song on ukulele in the 1969 I Dream of Jeannie episode 'Uncles a Go-Go'. Ringo Starr sang an impromptu version of the song in Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles' TV special broadcast by the BBC on 26 December 1967. Nicolas Cage sang part of this song in National Treasure: Book of Secrets. A portion of the song appeared in Disney's 1994 The Lion King (sung by the character Zazu, voiced by Rowan Atkinson). The song appeared in I Could Go On Singing (1963), Judy Garland's last film. The song is still played over the public address at Cambridge United football matches after home wins. It was a staple song of the Billy Cotton Band Show on British radio and television. The following year, it was a number-25 hit for Danny Kaye. In 1950, the song was a top-ten hit in the United States for Freddy Martin And His Orchestra with vocalist Merv Griffin and sold over three million copies. The ball is tossed or bowled (as in cricket) or pitched at the coconuts with the object of knocking one off its stand. The song celebrates the coconut shy (coconut toss) at funfairs, and the chorus of 'Roll or bowl a ball a penny a pitch' is based on the call of the showman 'standing underneath the flare' (of gaslight), inviting the public to play. The song was published by Box and Cox Publications (ASCAP). '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).

Song by Fred Heatherton 'I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts'

Lion king zazu coconuts