HARRY BELAFONTE - JAMAICA FAREWELL

JAMAICA FAREWELL

HARRY BELAFONTE

SONGWRITER: IRVING BURGUIE

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: CALYPSO

LABEL: RCA VICTOR

GENRE: MENTO/POP

YEAR: 1956

 

     Harry Belafonte(born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, songwriter, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. His breakthrough album Calypso(1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.

      Belafonte is best known for his recordings of "The Banana Boat Song", with its signature "Day-O" lyric, and "Jamaica Farewell". 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 Carmen Jones(1954), Island in the Sun(1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow(1959).

    Belafonte considered the actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson a mentor, and was a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. As he later recalled, "Paul Robeson had been my first great formative influence; you might say he gave me my backbone. Martin King was the second; he nourished my soul." Throughout his career, Belafonte 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 and in 2022 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category and is the oldest living person to have received the honor.

        "Jamaica Farewell" is a Jamaican-style folk song (mento). The lyrics for the song were written by Lord Burgess (Irving Burgie), an American-born, half-Barbadian songwriter. It is about the beauties of the West Indian Islands.

    The song appeared on Harry Belafonte's 1956 album Calypso. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Pop chart.

Down the way

Where the nights are gay

And the sun shines daily on the mountaintop

I took a trip on a sailing ship

And when I reached Jamaica I made a stop

 

But I'm sad to say I'm on my way

Won't be back for many a day

My heart is down

My head is turning around

I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town

 

Down at the market you can hear

Ladies cry out while on their heads they bear

Ackee, rice, saltfish are nice

And the rum is fine any time of year

 

But I'm sad to say I'm on my way

Won't be back for many a day

My heart is down

My head is turning around

I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town

 

Sounds of laughter everywhere

And the dancing girls swing to and fro

I must declare my heart is there

Though I've been from Maine to Mexico

 

But I'm sad to say I'm on my way

Won't be back for many a day

My heart is down

My head is turning around

I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town

 

Down the way

Where the nights are gay

And the sun shines daily on the mountaintop

I took a trip on a sailing ship

And when I reached Jamaica I made a stop

 

But I'm sad to say I'm on my way

Won't be back for many a day

My heart is down

My head is turning around

I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town

 

Sad to say I'm on my way

Won't be back for many a day

My heart is down

My head is turning around

I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town.