What You Might Have Bean
This song started as a harmless beach pun in Geraldton, Australia. I was walking along the sand playing with “bean” and “been,” and I thought I’d write something silly just to amuse myself.
That was the plan.
Somewhere along the way the beans formed a union and took over the message.
Suddenly we had red beans stirring up drama, coffee beans vacationing near the Bahamas, navy beans sailing the seas, and a spiritual mung bean contemplating karma with the Dalai Lama. At no point did I sit down and say, “Today I will explore identity, race, destiny, culture, and nurture versus nature… through legumes.”
But that’s what happened.
The song quietly asks: if you’d had a different mama, would you still be you? If you’d grown in a different row, would you sprout the same way?
It’s philosophy disguised as pantry nonsense.
Which is probably the safest way to do philosophy.
In the end, I decided the beans were right. You don’t get to choose your soil. You don’t get to swap mamas. But you do get to grow.
So be what you bean. Mean what you mean. And try not to split the seam on the broad bean.
Some songs arrive fully formed.
This one sprouted.
[Verse 1]
Well you never know what you might have bean
‘Cause you might have bean what you should have been
No one knows what you could have bean
If you hadn’t been born to your mama
You may never know what you might have bean
And you might have been what you could have bean
Should a soybean be with a pinto bean
If a coffee bean was your mama?
If a coffee bean was your mama
You might have been a llama
‘Cause a llama knows where the coffee bean grows
Just south of the Bahamas
[Chorus]
Be what you bean
And mean what you mean
Grow where you’re thrown in the row you’re seen
No one knows what you might have bean
If you had a different mama
[Verse 2]
Well a kidney bean from a different scene
Made him scream when he lost his pajamas
You could-a split the seam from the fat broad bean
If a red bean was your mama
If a red bean was your mama
You might see different drama
Where the collars were tight and the sheets were white
If a red bean was your mama
[Chorus]
Be what you bean
And mean what you mean
Grow where you’re thrown in the row you’re seen
No one knows what you might have bean
If you had a different mama
[Verse 3]
No one knows what you should a bean
If you had a been what you might of bean
you could a been a navy bean
Swimming in Yokohama
No one knows what you might have bean
If you should of bean what you could have bean
You might have been a calypso bean
If a coco bean was your mama
[Chorus]
Be what you bean
And mean what you mean
Grow where you’re thrown in the row you’re seen
No one knows what you might have bean
If you had a different mama
[Outro]
If a coco bean was your mama
You oughta see Dalai Lama
‘Cause no one knows where the coco bean grows
Unless they have good karma
