Garcia Marquez and Radiohead

As an avid Radiohead fan, I have long known that they have a rare song titled “Banana Co.” which is said to be influenced by Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. While reading One Hundred Years- I finally came upon the section in which a Mr. Herbert (a capitalist) arrives in Macondo and discovers its abundance of bananas. Garcia Marquez writes, “with the suspicious attention of a diamond merchant he examined the banana meticulously, dissecting it with a special scalpel, weighing the pieces on a pharmacist’s scale, and calculating its breadth with a gunsmith’s calipers.” I find that Garcia Marquez chose his words wisely in comparing Mr. Herbert to a diamond merchant. Mr. Herbert saw the bananas as instant wealth. This reminds me much of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the West Indies, in which he viewed the land and people as his own and planned to utilize these “possessions” for prosperity. Upon this discovery, Mr. Herbert develops a banana plantation and soon bring much attention and business to Macondo, but also despair and corruption.

The Radiohead lyrics go as such….

Oh, banana co.
We really love you and we need you
And oh, banana co.
We'd really love to believe you, but
Everything's underground
We gotta dig it up somehow
Yeah yeah

Oh, she said no go
She said she'd like to
She's seen you
But no, banana co.
She knows if you die then we all do
Everything's burning down
We gotta dig it up somehow
Yeah yeah

Everything's burning down
We gotta put it out somehow
Yeah yeah

Yorke begins the song by saying (about the banana plantation) that “we really love you and we need you,” as if Macondo wasn’t surviving just fine without the influx of capitalism. Later, Yorke captures the ruin of Macondo by saying, “everything’s burning down.” Throughout much of the novel I had a hard time pinpointing its deeper meaning. However, as I continue to read, things become more clear. I find Macondo’s plight to be that of the West: a money-hungry attitude based on wealth and prosperity which ultimately leads to greed.