Clearly anyone who can pen insigtful lyrics such as these, has much to add to the arena of international diplomacy. Well maybe Harry should keep his mouth shut and let others speak. It seems that the music was written by his arranger William Attaway and Irving Burgie (Lord Burgess) was responsible for those words. Bellafonte was just a singer (who was considered a fraud among the folkies of the early 1960s).
William Attaway - The Mississippi Writers and Musicians Project at Starkville High School
William Attaway wrote songs for Harry Belafonte, in whose home he was married in 1962 (Drapher 56), including the famous Day-O Banana Boat Song. Altogether, Attaway wrote over 500 songs. ASCAP Playback Magazine
Singer/songwriter/folklorist/teacher Irving Burgie is a modest man. Even so, he wants the world to know his name. It's not as if he hasn't made his musical mark yet. For more than forty years now, the world has been singing along to his songs. One song in particular has become an international phenomenon. In fact, you only have to utter the song's two-syllable title to incite just about anyone, anywhere to start singing its joyous refrain: "Day-O, Day-ay-ay-O, daylight come and me wan' go home." You know the rest.
Of course Belafonte receives songwriting credit from many people on the internet. Maybe he even wrote that phoney Shakespeare quote.
It's an outrage that Bush has failed to appoint not even one washed up 50's era reggae singer to the State Department.
Well Robert Mitchum didn't live long enough to serve in a cabinet position under President George W. Bush but I'm sure that he would have appreciated the consideration...
Had it been Algore Jr. we might have had to endure Calypso Louis Farrakhan in a cabinet position...
As for Robert Mitchum, does anyone know if that was in fact him narrating the short film for President HW Bush at the '92 GOP convention right before 41 spoke? My Dad insists it is. John Wayne was a Republican- Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, James Cagney. That Hollyweird is long gone however. They don't make anything productive or decent anymore.
I was really glad to see there's another music historian on here who remembers what a phony and sellout Belafonte was considered to be in his day. Also very happy to see that someone else has the Robert Mitchum calypso album. Not enough people do. What is this generation coming to?!
Here's a response I put on another FR thread on the same subject. Thought you might appreciate it:
"Selling out the black man to the white establishment for personal advancement? Funny, that's exactly what the real calypso singers said about Harry back in the 1950s, when the music they invented was released only on small independent labels, while a watered-down, sanitized version by the light-skinned, well-dressed, non-threatening Harry Belafonte was marketed like Coca-Cola to white Americans to play on their blonde wood Magnavoxes at their martini and cheese parties. Harry Belafonte was to calypso what Pat Boone was to Little Richard. Were I he, I would not be throwin' no rocks from my glass beach hut, mon."
BTW, if I wanted to throw around accusations as wildly as Harry does, I'd blame him for the hateful career of Louie Farrakhan. Calypso Louie (or "The Charmer," as he was then known) might have had a much more benign career if RCA hadn't passed on signing him because they thought that one light-skinned black calypso singer was all the pop market could bear. Next time you hear Louie spewing anti-Jewish rhetoric, remember that if it weren't for Harry Belafonte being in the way, Louie might be shouting, "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay-o!" instead.