Dock Workers Sang It Through the Night. Harry Belafonte Turned It Into a Song the Whole World Knows

Harry Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York, in 1927, to parents who were born in Jamaica.

As a boy, he spent eight years living with his grandmother in Jamaica. Later he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

The song that made him famous came from the docks of Jamaica.

It was an old work song. Dock workers loaded bananas onto big ships all night long, to stay out of the hot sun. When daylight came, they sang for the boss to come count their bananas so they could finally go home.

In 1956, Harry recorded his version, “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song),” for his album “Calypso.”

That album became the first LP by a single artist to sell a million copies. The song reached No. 5 in America and became his signature.

Years later, Harry explained what it meant to him. He called it “a song about struggle,” and said, “I took that song and honed it into an anthem that the world loved.”

In this video, filmed live at Sankei Hall in Tokyo on July 18, 1960, Harry sings it with all his heart, leaning into every “Day-O.”

You can hear why the whole world sang along.

He became a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, and he won a Grammy, an Emmy and a Tony. A whole new generation fell in love with “Day-O” when it was used in the 1988 movie “Beetlejuice.”

Harry passed away in April 2023, at 96.

Do you still sing “Day-O” when you hear it? Tell us in the comments.