The Tarriers

The Tarriers were an American vocal group, specializing in folk music and folk-flavored popular music. Named after the folk song "Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill", the group had two hit songs during 1956-57: "Cindy, Oh Cindy" (with Vince Martin) and "The Banana Boat Song." The two singles became US Top Ten hits and peaked at #26 and #15 respectively in the UK Singles Chart.

The group formed from a collection of folk singers who performed regularly at Washington Square in New York City during the mid-1950, including Erik Darling and Bob Carey. "Eventually it became the Tarriers, with Bob, me, Carl Calton and Alan Arkin," Darling told Wayne Jancik in The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders. According to Darling, "Carl didn't really mesh" and left the group before the remaining trio secured a contract with Glory Records in 1956, where the Tarriers scored two hits.

Banana Boat

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Banana Boat is a Polish a cappella sextet, authoring and performing original songs representing the genre of neo-shanties. Being one of the pioneers of the new genre, the group retains its simultaneous focus on contemporary interpretations of traditional sea shanties and maritime music. Owing to its characteristic six-part, jazzy harmony, departing from the traditional sound of the music of the sea, the group has become one of the emblems of what the international artists of the maritime stage have informally come to dub as the Polish style maritime song. With maritime music constantly in the focus of its activity, since 2004, Banana Boat has also been experimenting with other musical genres, including popular and jazz compositions, inviting other artists to participate in individual projects. The group is a Member of International Seasong and Shanty Association (ISSA).

Biography

Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)

"Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" is a traditional Jamaican mento folk song; the best-known version was released by Jamaican-American singer Harry Belafonte in 1956 and later became one of his signature songs. That same year The Tarriers released an alternate version that incorporated the chorus of another Jamaican folk song, "Hill and Gully Rider". The Tarriers version was later recorded by Shirley Bassey. Other recordings were made of the song in 1956-1957, as well as later.

The song has mento influences, but "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" was commonly classified as an example of the better known calypso music. It is a work song, 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.

Origins

The song originated as a Jamaican folk song. It was thought to be sung by Jamaican banana workers, with a repeated melody and refrain (call and response); to each set lyric, the workers made a response. There were numerous versions of lyrics, some likely improvised on the spot by the singers. The song was probably created around the second half of the nineteenth century or the first half of twentieth century, where the there was a rise of the banana trade in Jamaica.