The Brilliance of Harry Belafonte in 12 Songs

 Posted on September 10, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1190 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

In a rich musical career initially defined by the lilting sounds of calypso, over the course of seven decades, Harry Belafonte — the actor, activist, producer and vocalist who died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at the age of 96 — was so much more. The brassy showtunes of Broadway, the finesse of folk and blues, and the simmering songs of jazz, R&B and Tin Pan Alley’s standards were this lyric baritone’s playgrounds.

Yet there was so much more to Belafonte’s music than his signature hits like “Banana Boat Song (Day-O),” “Come Back Liza,” “Man Smart (Woman Smarter)” and his 1956 blockbuster album, “Calypso.” Here are a handful of Belafonte’s other career bests.

“Man Piaba” (1954)
While his debut album with RCA, “Mark Twain and Other Folk Favorites,” was filled with live versions of traditional folk songs, it was an original co-written with Jack K. Rollins – the film and television producer, who first talent managed Belafonte to great success – where the singer made his mark. Triple timing his lyrics faster than Jay-Z and writing intergalactic lyrics tying him to Albert Einstein, relativity and the Hayden planetarium made Belafonte a smart, funny force to be reckoned with.

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“Troubles” (1956)
Belafonte started off his career in the cocktail lounges of New York City, and on this original composition he moves through an unusual atmospheric brand of honky-tonk, jazzy blues and a saloon-habitue’s tale of woe and worry that would have sounded great on Sinatra’s “Sings for Only the Lonely.”

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“Noah” (1956)
A dramatic recitation turned into a gospel doo-wop paean, Belafonte and author/essayist William Attaway tuned the story of the arc and its animals into a hiccupping, wrath-filled wonder — just listen to the grit in Belafonte’s voice when he growls, “It’s gonna rain.”

“A Fool for You” (1958)
Belafonte captured several shades of Ray Charles on 1958’s “Belafonte Sings the Blues.” No blue mood, however, is quieter, more spare and haunting than his slow-cooked rendering of Charles’ pain and passion in “A Fool for You.”

“Another Man Done Gone” (1960)
Long before the conversation around Black incarceration and prison reform, Belafonte recorded an album of chain gang work songs such as the jailor classic co-penned by folk musicologist Alan Lomax, along with Vera Hall, John Lomax, and Ruby Pickens Tartt.

“Midnight Special” (1962)
Belafonte’s Bo Diddley-shuffling take on this traditional blues features the vocalist at his cockiest. Plus, this track’s recording marks the first officially-released recording by Bob Dylan, who plays harmonica.

“This Land Is Your Land” (1963)
By the early 1960s Belafonte’s dedication to civil rights and social justice were as renowned as his skills for song and for the stage. He brought all those forces to bear on his chesty rendition of Woody Guthrie’s activist call.

“Summertime Love” (1966)
From the opulent orchestration of “In My Quiet Room” album (with arrangements from the great Hugo Montenegro), Belafonte brings out his recitative folk roots for a tender take on the Broadway rarity, “Summertime Love” from composer Frank (“Guys & Dolls”) Loesser’s “Greenwillow.” Backed by the gentlest acoustic guitars, Belafonte is at his absolute dreamiest here. 

“Play Me” (1973)
The title track of his final studio album for RCA Victor finds Belafonte, amidst the flowery flutes and harps, taking the grieving romanticism of Neil Diamond to a friskier, livelier place than its originator does. With that, you can hear Belafonte’s voice growing into age and experience with its weighty gravel.

“A Hole in the Bucket” (1977)
Written by Belafonte with the folk giant Odetta, this sweetly told story – in 1977, no less – brought the vocalist back to his traditional music roots after a series of pop records. Together with the self-penned title track (“Turn the World Around”) from the album whence “A Hole in the Bucket” came, both tracks reestablished Belafonte’s cred as a global folk music giant.

“Forever Young / Jabulani” (1981)
Belafonte heartily repays Dylan for that 1962 harmonica break by covering one of the Minnesota Bard’s most uplifting, ruminative songs while adding his own co-written track (“Jabulani”) to the soca-reggae medley’s mix.


“Paradise in Gazankulu” (1988)
The title track to his last official studio album finds Belafonte – in an electropop-meets-African high life mood – talk-speaking about the terrors of South Africa under Apartheid. Five decades into his career, he remained musically and socially on the edge.

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