MARY’S BOY
CHILD
HARRY
BELAFONTE
SONGWRITER: JESTER HAIRSTON
COUNTRY: JAMAICAXU. S. A.
ALBUM: AN EVENING WITH BELAFONTE
LABEL: RCA
VICTOR
GENRE: CHRISTMAS SONG
YEAR: 1957
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George
Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is a Jamaican-American singer, songwriter,
activist, and actor. One of
the most successful Jamaican-American pop stars in history, he was dubbed the
"King of Calypso"
for popularizing the Trinidadian Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. His
breakthrough álbum Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist. Belafonte is known for his recording of "The
Banana Boat Song", with its signature lyric
"Day-O". He has recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk,
gospel,
show tunes,
and American
standards. He has also starred in several films,
including Otto Preminger's
hit musical Carmen
Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Robert Wise's
Odds
Against Tomorrow (1959).
Belafonte was an early supporter of the Civil
Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s and
was a confidant of Martin
Luther King Jr.. Throughout his career, he has
been an advocate for political and humanitarian causes, such as the Anti-Apartheid
Movement and USA for Africa.
Since 1987, he has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He was
a vocal critic of the policies of the George W. Bush presidential
administrations. Belafonte acts as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity
ambassador for juvenile justice issues.
Belafonte has won three Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), an Emmy Award,
and a Tony Award.
In 1989, he received the Kennedy
Center Honors. He was awarded the National
Medal of Arts in 1994. In 2014, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy's 6th
Annual Governors Awards.
An Evening with Belafonte is a studio
album by Harry Belafonte,
released by RCA Victor in 1957.
"Mary's Boy Child" is a 1956 Christmas song,
written by Jester Hairston.
It is widely
performed as a Christmas carol.
The
song had its genesis when Hairston was sharing a room with a friend. The
friend asked him to write a song for a birthday party. Hairston wrote the song
with a calypso rhythm because the people at the party would be mainly West Indians.
The song's original title was "He Pone and Chocolate Tea", pone being
a type of corn bread.
It was never recorded in this form.
Some time later Walter Schumann,
at the time conducting Schumann's Hollywood Choir, asked Hairston to write a
new Christmas song for his choir. Hairston remembered the calypso rhythm from
his old song and wrote new lyrics for it.
Harry Belafonte heard the song being performed by the choir and sought permission to
record it. It was recorded in 1956 and released as a single that year. Belafonte
released it again the following year in 1957 on his album An Evening with Belafonte, using a
different, longer take. This longer version was also released in the UK as a
single (with a B-side of Eden Was Just Like This), where it became the first UK
number one to have a playing time of over four minutes. It reached Nº. 1 on the
UK Singles Chart in November 1957, and has since sold over 1.19 million copies there.
In 1962, the full-length version was also
added to a re-issue of Belafonte's previously released álbum To Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Long time ago in
Bethlehem
So the Holy Bible say
Mary's boy child, Jesus Christ
Was born on Christmas day.
Hark, now hear the angels sing
A new King born today
And man will live forever more
Because of Christmas day.
While shepherds watched their flock by night
And see a bright new shining star
And hear a choir sing
The music seems to come from afar.
Now Joseph and his wife Mary
Come to Bethlehem that night
And find no place to borne she child
Not a single room was in sight.
Hark, now hear the angels sing
A new King born today
And man will live forever more
Because of Christmas day.
By and by they find a little nook
In a stable all forlorn
And in a manger cold and dark
Mary's little boy was born.
Hark, now hear the angels sing
A new King born today
And man will live forever more
Because of Christmas day.
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