The Styrous® Viewfinder: the Kingston Trio

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October 21, 2023

45 RPMs 74 : Harry Belafonte ~ Banana Boat Song (Day O)

Harry Belafonte ~ Banana Boat Song (Day O)

45 rpm record, side 1

On October 20, 1955, Day-O, a traditional mento Jamaican folk song, was recorded by Harry Belafonte. The title was changed to Banana Boat Song (Day O) and released a year later.

I remember when the song came out and how much I loved the languid tempo of the rhythm with its vocals comprised of only male voices as backup. I had never heard of calypso at that point so it introduced me to a whole new form of music. It had bongo drums which only became popular a couple of years later with the advent of the Beatniks and their poetry readings.

The original song, Day-O, was written by Irving Burgie who used the alias Lord Burgess; he was regarded as one of the greatest composers of Caribbean music.

The song was covered by the Tarriers, the Fontane Sisters, Sarah Vaughan, Shirley Bassey and Steve Lawrence in 1956.

Stan Freberg did a wonderful parody of the song entitled, Banana Boat (Day-O). As was usual with his style, it is totally wacky and out of control!

The "B" side of the record, Jamaica Farewell, was also written by "Lord Burgess" and is about the beauties of the West Indian Islands.

Harry Belafonte ~ Jamaica Farewell

45 rpm record, side 2

photo by Styrous®

Jamaica Farewell was covered by many artists, some of them were: Chuck Berry, Marty Robbins, Caetano Veloso, Jimmy Buffett, Sam Cooke, Carly Simon and, of course, The Kingston Trio.

Tracklist:

Side 1:

Banana Boat (Day-O), Guitar [With] – Millard Thomas Orchestra, Chorus – Tony Scott's Orchestra And Chorus*, written by Belafonte*, Burgess*, Attaway* - 3:05

Side 2:

Jamaica Farewell, Conductor – William Lorin, written by Lord Burgess.

Companies, etc.

Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Indianapolis

Credits:

Info on Banana Boat side 1: Recorded Oct. 20, 1955

Info on Jamaica Farewell side: 2 Recorded July 24, 1956

Notes:

Info on both sides:
TMK(s) ® Registered • Marca(s) Registrada(s)
Radio Corporation of America—Made in U.S.A.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Matrix / Runout (Side A label): J2PW-5657
    Matrix / Runout (Side B label): J2PW-5658
    Pressing Plant ID (Appears in runouts): I
    Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, stamped): J2PW 5657 5S I A1
    Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, stamped): J2PW-5658--4S ^ I A3

Harry Belafonte – Banana Boat (Day-O) / Jamaica Farewell
Series:   Gold Standard Series
Format:   Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Styrene
Country: US
Released:
Genre:   Reggae, Pop
Style:   Calypso

Viewfinder links:

Shirley Bassey

Harry Belafonte

Chuck Berry

Sam Cooke

The Kingston Trio

Marty Robbins

Sarah Vaughan

Net links:

American Songwriter ~ Behind the Meaning of Banana Boat (Day-O)

Got a Million Rhymes ~ Day-O (Banana Boat Song)

Songfacts ~ The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)

YouTube links:

Banana Boat Song (Day O)

Shirley Bassey

Harry Belafonte

Steve Lawrence
Sarah Vaughan

Stan Freberg - Banana Boat (Day-O)

Jamaica Farewell

Chuck Berry

Sam Cooke
The Kingston Trio

Marty Robbins

Carly Simon

Caetano Veloso

Styrous® ~ Friday, October 20, 2023

45 RPMs Archive
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January 1, 2021

The Kingston Trio articles/mentions

Joan Baez ~ Farewell, Angelina

Enrico Banducci & a hungri i

Harry Belafonte ~ Banana Boat Song (Day O)

Juanita's Galley

Mort Sahl ~ At Sunset on red vinyl

The Kingston Trio - 1957

publicity photo

photographer unknown

Music People

MAIN MENU - Blog Articles
~

May 14, 2013

Beemer Memory 5 ~ Leatherneck, Pillow, a Hungry i

Leather Love Act performance

at the Leatherneck Bar

San Francisco, 1978

photo by Jim Stewart

The Internet is the miracle of our times. It is changing the way we perceive the world, the way we live and the things that happen to us. Here is a case in point. I wrote my last entry, Beemer Memory 4 (see link below), only to try to preserve a moment in time I thought shouldn't be lost, nothing more. I was contacted by photographer, Jim Stewart. Now, this may not sound unusual but the thing was, I had lost contact with Jim almost 40 years ago and have been trying to find and reconnect with him for the last 10 years. I had tried everything I could think of. I wrote the entry and BAM! Within a couple of days, he contacted ME because a friend had read the entry and had told HIM! Now, I call that a miracle.

The reconnection was something I will remember the rest of my life; it was not only completely satisfying (sometimes old-time reunions don't go so well), it was astounding!

We talked about many things, mostly about our lives since we've seen each other: our successes, our failures, our health, you name it. I may write more about our reunion another time. We talked about those crazy days and one of the things he mentioned was, yes, we actually DID drag that Beemer of mine into the bar. I'd forgotten we had not only talked about doing it but HAD done it.

HOT DAMN!

At the time, I was dancing on Broadway at the Hungry i club doing the "Love Act". The Hungry i had opened as a nightclub in the 1950's; it featured top performers of the time. The Kinston Trio began their career there; Jonathan Winters, Shelly Berman, Mort Sahl, to name just a few, almost anybody who was anybody in entertainment performed there. But those were in earlier times. By the time I was dancing at the Hungry i, it had moved from it's original heyday location at 599 Jackson Street to 546 Broadway and had become one of the many sleazy strip joints that featured a male/female "Love Act". The act was what drew in couples (married couples but mostly men with girls they wanted to seduce, get the picture?). The guys figured the sight of a man and woman simulating sex in a dance was supposed to make the women he was with horny. Go figure. It was a great time in my life, though, and I met a lot of interesting people. I'll have some delightful blog entries about that period of my life.

My dance partner at the time was Pillow. Pillow was anything but; in later years she was known as "She Beast". She was a female body builder who competed professionally. She was street smart, intelligent, artistic and could swing a mean upper right. The only thing 'pillow' about her was her heart. She was Miss Exotic World in 1995. She held her farewell performance at Exotic World (the Burlesque Hall of Fame) when she retired in 2000.

Anyway, she and I did a photo shoot of our Hungry i, Leather Love Act (we had many acts, one of which was a Star Wars Love Act; she was Princess Lea, I was Darth Vader. The audiences loved THAT one even though she was 3" taller than I, and with her buns on, well . . .) at the Leatherneck one night and dragged the bike into the bar but it was a closed session and not open to the public.

Jim photographed the session of Pillow and me performing our Love Act. He gave me proof sheets from the shoot; years later I scanned them then forgot all about them. After he contacted me earlier this month, I dragged them out of storage and examined the shots he got that day . . .

. . . and the following are shots from that shoot: