A Record Blog: Post 2

Harry Belafonte – Calypso RCA Victor 1956

I’m telling you all about this album because it is crucial to have for this upcoming summer season! Like windows open, rum in hand, friends by your side kinda crucial!

I have it priced at $10: the record itself is very clean, there should be little to no background noise and the cover is still in beautiful shape! This is a first print in mono.  The colors of the cover have remained unscathed by sun and storage conditions after all these decades!

This is the third release from the Harlem-born Harry Belafonte and is probably his most popular record to date. Calypso includes Belafonte’s hit recording of the Jamaican folk song “Day O”.   Belafonte’s recording of this song is known worldwide and has been a pop-culture staple for decades; played at major sporting events, referenced in movies, etc.   Aside from “Day O,” this lp also comes equipped with the upbeat “I Do Adore Her”, “Come Back Liza” and “Man Smart (Woman Smarter)”!

Being a pop culture icon, its not surprising that Harry Belafonte showed up in my purview in several varied incarnations.

When I was really young, I remember watching reruns of the comedy show The Smothers Brothers.  Controversial for its time, the show featured a menagerie of influential artists of the 1960s. In the late 60s CBS censors cut an entire Belafonte song and television performance from an episode of The Smothers Brothers.  The cut segment was a performance of the song “Lord, Don’t Stop the Carnival” which was performed in front of a montage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.  Here is a link to a video of that unaired segment:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFE4N57ibUQ)

Harry Belafonte showed up again in my life through appearances on The Muppet Show and Sesame Street.   Later “Day-O” itself reared its head in an unforgettable scene in Tim Burton’s 1988 cult classic film, Beetlejuice:

You can take this baby home for only $10!!!!