Jamaica Farewell

DESCRIPTION: "Down away 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." He is sad to leave because he has to "leave a little girl in Kingston town"
AUTHOR: Lord Burgess
EARLIEST DATE: 1956 (recording, Harry Belafonte)
KEYWORDS: love separation travel Caribbean
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 543, "Jamaica Farewell" (notes only)
DT, JAMAICFW
NOTES [181 words]: Of the many pop songs Averill lists as popular enough to be indexed, this one is perhaps the one most widely perceived as folk; a good many people seem to think it is traditional. But it's by "Lord Burgess" (Irving Louis Burgie, 1924-2019), who provided a good bit of material to Harry Belafonte (this, a version of the "Banana Boat Song," "Island in the Sun," and probably others less well known).
It was a strange working relationship. According to Milton Okun (as told to Richard Sparks), Along the Cherry Lane: Tales from the Life of Music Industry Legend Milton Okun, Classical Music Today, 2011, pp. 58-65, Burgie was responsible for writing (or, in some cases such as "Banana Boat Song (Day-O)," probably rewriting) most of Harry Belafonte's calypso songs, and Belafonte regularly took a songwriting credit and half the royalties. Milt Okun convinced Burgie to claim his own rights. The caution in this is that Okun ended up publishing the Burgie songs, so he perhaps had an interest in increasing Burgie's share of the royalties, plus he had personal disputes with Belafonte. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: ACSF543J

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