Calypso (album)
| Calypso | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Harry Belafonte | ||||
| Released | 1956 | |||
| Recorded | August 18, October 20, November 9, 1955 at Webster Hall, New York City | |||
| Genre | Mento, calypso | |||
| Length | 31:23 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Producer | Ed Welker, Herman Diaz Jr., Henri René | |||
| Harry Belafonte chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
 |
Calypso is the third studio album by recording artist Harry Belafonte, released by RCA Victor (LPM-1248) in 1956. The album became his second consecutive number-one album on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, where it stayed for 31 consecutive weeks.
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 Jamaican folk song, not a calypso, sung from the point of view of dock workers working the night shift loading bananas 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 third track, "Jamaica Farewell", is a 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 14 on Billboard's Pop chart, becoming the second hit from the album.
Calypso is the first LP album to sell over one million copies. Several singles, including Glenn Miller's "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," Bing Crosby's "White Christmas," and Tennessee 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. Allmusic gave the album 5 stars out of 5 and called it, "a record of inestimable influence".
...
Wikipedia