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Banana Boat Song (Day-O)

Composer: Erik Darling / Bob Carey / Alan Arkin

Grateful Dead

No Grateful Dead recordings.

Others

This list is not intended to be comprehensive.

info Calypso, Harry Belafonte, 1956
no info The Tarriers, 1956
no info Shirley Bassey, 1957
no info Golden Hits, Sarah Vaughan, 1958
info Belafonte At Carnegie Hall, Harry Belafonte, 1959
info Play It Like It Is, The Country Gentlemen, 1969
info All the Best of Johnnie and Jack, Johnnie and Jack, 1970
no info Everybody's In Show Business, The Kinks, 1972
no info Belafonte - Concert In Japan, Harry Belafonte, 1974
no info Collection, Harry Belafonte, 1984
no info All Time Greatest Hits, Vol. 1, Harry Belafonte, 1988
no info His Greatest Hits, Harry Belafonte, 1991
info Johnnie & Jack and the Tennessee Mountain Boys, Johnnie Wright, 1992
no info Troubadours Of The Folk Era Vol. 3, Various Artists (The Tarriers), 1992
no info Kershaw Sessions, Robyn Hitchcock, 1994
info Folk Song America, Vol. 2, Various Artists (The Tarriers), 1994
no info An Evening with Belafonte and Friends, Harry Belafonte, 1997
info The Early Rebel Recordings 1962-1971, The Country Gentlemen, 1998
info Silver Anthology, Stormy Weather, 1999
info Greatest Hits, Harry Belafonte, 2000
info Art Of A Legend, Harry Belafonte, 2001
info Island In The Sun, Harry Belafonte, 2002
info The Folk Years: Yesterday's Gone, Various Artists (Harry Belafonte), 2002
info The Folk Years, Various Artists (Harry Belafonte), 2003
info Gather Round: Songs for Kids and Other Folks, Various Artists (Taj Mahal), 2004
info The Essential, Harry Belafonte, 2005
info Authorized Bootleg: Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA, Feb 27, 1989, Neville Brothers, 2010
info Pure... Movies, Various Artists (Harry Belafonte), 2010

Notes

Performed twice by the Grateful Dead in 1987. On both occasions with the Neville Brothers.

The song is often simply known as Day-O. The writing credits are most commonly Darling / Carey / Arkin (Arkin and Darling were members of the Tarriers). Other writers are credited though are given both the on online sites of ASCAP, BMI and HFA and on a number of recordings. These include; Burgess, Lord / Attaway, William, Adcock / Duffey / Waller and Luyre / Cobin. This suggests that the song is perhaps adapted from a traditional song.

The Adcock / Duffey / Waller credit presumably refers to the core members of the Country Gentlemen Charlie Waller, John Duffey, and Eddie Adcock who recorded an arrangement of the tune and registered the arrangement. The credits may also fall into this category.

The Belafonte LP Calypso is thought to be the first LP that sold over 1 million copies.

The tune was used as the basis for the protest song Freedom's Comin' And It Won't Be Long.