- Calypso (album)
Infobox Album |
Name = Calypso
Type =Album
Artist =Harry Belafonte
Released = 1956
Recorded = ?
Genre =Vocal
Length = 31:23
Label =RCA Victor record; LSP-1248
Producer = Herman Diaz & Henri Rene
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:5kdnvwmva9xk link]
Last album = "Belafonte "
(1956)
This album = "Calypso"
(1956)
Next album = "An Evening with Belafonte "
(1957)"Calypso" is an album by
Harry Belafonte , released byRCA Victor (LPM-1248) in 1956. The CD was released onApril 28 1992 . It is the first full-length gramophone LP to sell over one million copies (the singlesBing Crosby 's "White Christmas" andTennessee Ernie Ford 's "Sixteen Tons " had surpassed 1 million copies previously). The album is number four on "Billboard's" "Top 100 Album" list for having spent 31 weeks at number 1, 58 weeks in the top ten, and 99 weeks on the U.S. charts.The tracks
The first track, "Day-O (
Banana Boat Song )" largely contributed to the success of the album and it is still the song for which Harry Belafonte is best known, reaching number five on "Billboard"'s Pop chart.It is a traditional
Trinidadian Calypso folk song, sung from the point of view of dock workers working the night shift loadingbanana s onto ships. Daylight has come, the shift is over, and they want their work to be counted up so that they can go home (this is the meaning of the lyric "Come, Mr. Tally Man, tally me banana/ Daylight come and me wan' go home.")The song was also used in a famous dinner scene in
Tim Burton 's "Beetlejuice ".The third track, "
Jamaica Farewell ", is another calypso folk song about the beauties of the West Indian islands and a love left behind. This was the first album on which it was published. It reached number fourteen on Billboard's Pop chart, becoming the second hit from the album.Track listing
# "Day-O" (
Banana Boat Song ) (William Attaway , Belafonte) – 3:02
# "I Do Adore Her" (Lord Burgess ) – 2:48
# "Jamaica Farewell" (Lord Burgess) – 3:02
# "Will His Love Be Like His Rum?" (Attaway, Belafonte) – 2:33
# "Dolly Dawn" (Lord Burgess) – 3:13
# "Star-O" (Attaway, Belafonte) – 2:02
# "The Jack-Ass Song" (Attaway, Lord Burgess) – 2:52
# "Hosanna" (Attaway, Lord Burgess) – 2:34
# "Come Back Liza" (Attaway, Lord Burgess) – 3:03
# "Brown Skin Girl " (Spann) – 2:43
# "Man Smart (Woman Smarter)" (Span) – 3:31
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