Harry Belafonte “Calypso” 1956. Today, March 1st, is Harry Belafonte’s 90th birthday (b. Harold Bellanfanti, Jr., 1927). Calypso was Belafonte’s third studio album and a massive hit. It was the first LP in history to sell over a million copies and rates #4 on the Billboard Top 100 Albums of all time, having spent a mind-boggling 31 weeks at the #1 spot, 58 weeks in the Top 10. Every single track on Calypso is iconic and recognizable, from “Jamaica Farewell” to “Man Smart Woman Smarter” (which I am a bit chagrined to admit I probably heard first at a Grateful Dead show) to the traditional Trinidad folk song “Day-O” (which has a “remix” on Side 2 as “Star O”). “Day-O” was first recorded by Edric Connor and the Caribbeans in 1952 but probably dates back to the mid-to-late 1800′s. My favorite popular culture use of the track is in 1988′s Beetlejuice.

From the back cover of Calypso by Willam Attaway, “In the belief that meaningful and exciting innovation is one of the responsibilities of the creative artist, Harry Belafonte in his selection of material for this album breaks through the stereotype which confines all calypso to a monotonous sameness. The result is not just another presentation of island songs – tired from being trotted out for the tourist on the twenty-one day cruise…Here are songs ranging in mood from brassy gaiety to wistful sadness, from tender love to heroic largeness. And through it all runs the irrepressible rhythm of a people who have not lost the ability to laugh at themselves.”