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The Banana Boat Song

from Dancing Tunes by Edward II

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  • Our brand new Dancing Tunes CD, featuring a selection of traditional Jamaican songs with beautiful artwork by the renowned Jamaican artist, Bernard Hoyes in a bundle with one of our limited edition top quality cotton 'contrast' hoodies with reach through front pockets
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    The brand new CD by Edward II, beautifully packaged in natural recycled card and vinyl effect CD with full lyric sheet, sleeve notes by Karen Gabay and David Jennings and original artwork by Bernard Hoyes. Mastered in the renowned 80 Hertz studios to maximise audio quality, this is a truly beautiful thing.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Dancing Tunes via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Streaming + Download

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about

The Banana Boat song is a traditional Jamaican folk song and a work song, it was commonly sung by dockside night workers loading bananas on to ships, exporting the produce across the world. This was piece work – so the Tally Man would add up the work done before workers could leave for home. In 1957, six versions of this song charted in the US top forty, helping it become synonymous with Calypso music in popular culture.

lyrics

Daylight come and me wan' go home
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day
Me say day, me say day-o
Daylight come and me wan' go home

Work all night on a drink of rum
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Stack banana till de morning come
Daylight come and me wan' go home

Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana
Daylight come and me wan' go home

Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
Daylight come and me wan' go home

A beautiful bunch o' ripe banana
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Hide the deadly black tarantula
Daylight come and me wan' go home

credits

from Dancing Tunes, track released December 1, 2020
Traditional: Arrangement Gavin Sharp / Tee Carthy

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about

Edward II Manchester, UK

Edward II, are an English roots band that uniquely blend the rhythms of the Caribbean with traditional songs from the British Isles. Back in the nineties the band were at the forefront of the Rock Against Racism movement and signed to Cooking Vinyl Records and Rhythm Safari in the US. They worked extensively across the globe touring world music, reggae and folk festivals on every continent! ... more

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