Song 494: This week the playlist features Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) by Harry Belafonte, which is a traditional song that has no writer credits. You can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I first became acquainted with this hit during my grade school era, making it one of the few tunes on this list that predates the seventh grade moment when the Beatles rocked my world. I have a vague memory of possibly singing the song in my grade school class, and I also have another vague memory of my high school choir doing a version of the piece as well. This marks Mr. Belafonte's first appearance on this list, and I had decided a few weeks ago to add this calypso classic at some point during the current stretch because of the 12/2/19 death of 95-year-old Irving Burgie, who is credited with passing this composition along to HB. Perhaps, when daylight came, Mr. Burgie wanted to go home, and then he did. In researching this blog, I learned about Belafonte's opposition to the W crew, which is something we two have in common. In my case, two of the cuts from Elder Street point the finger at that nefarious bunch - Don't Misunderestimate Me and Chainy Snake (you can watch YouTube videos of them by clicking on the titles) - and my upcoming release Elder Statesman will have a lot more.
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