It looks like it’s going to be the summer hit of 2020: Banana. And that’s impressive for a song that’s now 58 years old.
The original version dates back to 1952 and was called Day Dah Light, performed by Edric Connor And The Caribbeans. It wasn’t until 1956 that the song became known as Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) in Harry Belafonte’s version. The song was often sung in ports where bananas were heavily transported. Irving Burgie and William Attaway wrote an adaptation of the text and after he played it during the Colgate Comedy Hour, a new recording was released by RCA.
In the UK, success came in 1957 for Shirley Bassey, although over time the influence of Hill And Gully Rider also came into play. After that, the Kinks, George Clinton, André van Duin and Shaggy also made new versions of the song. Shaggy had already included it on his 1995 album Boombastic, 25 years before the release of his number 1 hit. At that time the song was called Day Oh. In 2009 Jason Derulo managed to bring the song back into the charts with a sample on Don’t Wanna Go Home.
Want to know more about the origins of Top 40 hits? Then take a look aslihits.nl
(07-19-2020)
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