Australian singles charts:
Banana Boat (Day-O) entered the Kent charts on 9 March 1957 and peaked at #6. The song was #28 on the Top 100 of 1957.
Album:
The song is on Harry’s album Calypso which sold enough copies during 1957 to justify a #1 ranking if official album charts existed in Australia.
Songwriter:
Traditional, arranged by Harry Belafonte, William Attaway, Lord Burgess
Record label of Australian release:
RCA
Songfacts:
This is a traditional Jamaican song that was sung by dock workers who worked throughout the night loading bananas onto ships. It’s daylight, and they look forward to the arrival of the Tallyman (who will take inventory) so they can go home.
Belafonte’s version, released in 1956, used lyrics adapted by Irving Burgie and William Attaway, who wrote most of the songs on the Calypso album.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/harry-belafonte/the-banana-boat-song-day-o
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