HARRY BELAFONTE - The Artist

edgarblythe: Harry Belafonte=Paul Robeson (get my drift?)

Yep I do. Thanks for noting it.

On the Bear Family label is a new CD by Belafonte. Five disks covering the first ten years of his career. Through the Bear Family website it costs roughly $150.00. Through Yahoo Music the same set is almost $180.00.

HAITI CHERIE by Lord Burgess and Belafonte

Haiti Cherie says Haiti is my beloved land
Oh I never knew I'd have to leave you to understand
Just how much I miss the gallant citadel
Where days long ago brave men served this country well

Where sun is bright or evening with soft moonlight
Shading tree Creole maiden for company
A gentle breeze a warm caress if you please
Work laughter and play yes we'll always be this way

Haiti Cherie now I've returned to your soil so dear
Let me hear again the things that bring music to my ear
The lone shepherd's horn that welcomes the rising morn
When roads overflow as crowds to Iron market go

Where sun is bright or evening with soft moonlight
Shading tree Creole maiden for company
A gentle breeze a warm caress if you please
Work laughter and play yes we'll always be this way.

MO MARY by Richard Dyer-Bennett

Out on the hillside by the sheiling Mo Mary my beloved
Out on the hillside by the sheiling Mo Mary my beloved
Mo Mary mo lennan Mo Mary my beloved
On the the hillside by the sheiling Mo Mary my beloved

And like the blue gentian gleaming
On the hillside by the sheiling
Purple-blue in the sunlight are the eyes of my Mary
Mo Mary mo lennan Mo Mary my beloved
On the hillside by the sheiling Mo Mary my beloved

notes on Scottish words:
sheiling = meadow
lennan = sweetheart
gentian = an herb, with blue flowers

LA BAMBA words and music by Acosta - Belafonte

Bam Bam Bamba bam bam
You were drowning my darling
And I saved you
Dominating the waves with my love for you

Pero arriba y arriba ire yo no soy
Marinero por ti sere por ti sere
Por ti sere bam bam bamba bam bam

On the sand you did write
I will always love you
Then the sand blew away
And your love did too

Pero arriba y arriba ire yo no soy
Marinero por ti sere por ti sere
Por ti sere bam bam bamba bam bam

Oh the crab it is said
Walks in reverse
For your true love my darling
I'd walk on my head

Pero arriba y arriba y aribba ire yo no soy
Marinero por ti sere por ti sere
Por ti sere bam bam bamba bam bam

Tu estabas ahogando Tu estabas ahogando
Yo te salve domimando Las olas
Domimando las olas por tu wuerer
Pero y' arriba pero' arriba y' arriba
Y' arriba ire yo no soy mari nero
Yo no soy Mari re por ti sere

Bam bam bamba bam bam

Great singing edgarblythe

MARK TWAIN by Belafonte

Many years ago on the Mississippi riverboats
They had men called guagers
And the job of a guager was to hang off
the side of the boat with one hand
and in the other hand he had a ball of twine
with a hunk a lead on the end of it.
He'd wield the lead above his head
and let it fly into the river.
Wherever the water marked the twine
he'd call up to the skipper and say:
Marking on the twine is four fathoms.

'Course then and there year after year
it was gettin pretty monotonous
until in the eighteen hundreds a little man
came along and revolutionized the
whole guaging industry.
Instead of saying Marking on the twine
he cut it short and said Mark twain.

And in between each marking he'd
Fill it in with a little patter about himself
and his everyday life.
Well if you'd been living at that time
coming up from a distance on the Mississippi
it would have sounded like this:

Mark twain four fathoms off the starboard bow
I got a gal named Cindy Lou
Feeds me gin and baked beans too
Mark twain
Mark twain
Three fathoms off the starboard bow
I got a friend named Pete
Sings dirty songs down on Beel Street
Mark twain
Mark twain
Two fathoms off the starboard bow
I been working the river since '92
I get a penny a day and bad liquor too
Mark twain
Mark twain
I'm gone save my money til I die
They gonna bury me all but my good right eye
Mark twain
Mark twain
No fathoms off the starbord bow
Look out skipper pull it to the side
You gonna bust your bow and split your hide
Oh great God we done run aground
Skipper gonna chase me with a big bloodhound
Mark twain

Thanks, Joanne. There is a dignity and sensitivity to these pieces that touches me.

TURN AROUND by Belafonte, Alan Greene, Malvina Reynolds

Where are you going my little one little one
Where are you going my baby my own
Turn around and you're two
Turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl
Going out of the door

Turn around
Turn around
Turn around and you're a young girl
Going out of the door

Where are you going my little one little one
Little durndel and petticoats
Where have you gone
Turn around and you're tiny
Turn around and you're grown
Turn around and you're a young wife
With babes of your own

Turn around
Turn around
And you're a young wife
With babes of your own

Where are you going my little one little one
Where are you going my baby my own

DIAMOND JOE by Belafonte

Ain't gonna work in the country
And Nigel Forester's farm
I'm gonna wait til my Marybell come
She gonna call me Tom
I'm gonna ask you a question
Cap'n tell me no lie
Will I stay in this rotten old jail
Til the day I die

Diamond Joe come a getta me Diamond Joe

I'm tired eatin this cornbread
Can't even wash when it rain
I could get me some meat and soap
If I could lose these chains

Last night I heard the bloodhounds
Two of the men done escape
One was framed for murder
And the other one framed for rape

Now I bust rocks in the summer
In the spring winter and fall
If I had me some powder
Great God I'd blast me a hole in the wall

NOAH BY Belafonte - Attaway

Brothers?
Yeah
Sisters?
Yeah
It says here in Genesis one chapter one
In the beginning God made the Earth
It also says here in Genesis six chapter six
That the children of Israel were sinning
They were sinning
They were sinning
What did I say?
They were sinning
That's exactly what I said
And when God saw them sinning
It hurt him to his heart
It hurt him so bad
It made him mad
It made him so mad he was angry
And when God got angry the sky turned dark
It was then that he told Noah to build the ark
Who built the ark?
Noah
Who built the ark?
Noah
Who built the ark?
Noah Noah Noah
Noah built that ark
Children stop listen to me
God walked down by the briny sea
Beheld evil of the sinful men
Declared that he would destroy the land
Spoke to Noah Brother Noah said hark
He said look here Noah build me a ark
Want you to build it big and strong
Build it three hundred cubits long
Thirty high about fifty wide
I want it to stand my rain and tide
On this day I make my mark
In a hundred years I want that ark
When I get through with this evil land
Not a living thing is going to stand
Except the things that I tell to you
That I'm gonna need when the world is new
I've been east and I've been west
I've decided to put this world at rest
I've been up and I've been down
Nothin but evil all around
I've seen brother turned against brother
I've decided it'll go no further
Women weep and children mourn
Sorry the day that man was born
Sinful people one by one
Sorry the day my wrath begun
Sorry the day my wrath begun
Sorry the day my wrath begun
Sorry the day my wrath begun
Cause it's gonna rain
Cause it's gonna rain
Cause it's gonna rain
Cause it's gonna rain
And on this land this dry land
Not a living thing is gonna stand
Cause it's gonna rain
Cause it's gonna rain
Cause it's gonna rain
Cause it's gonna rain
Who built the ark?
Noah
Who built the ark?
Noah
Yeah who built the ark?
Noah Noah
Noah built the ark
Well God told him what to do
Then the work began he cut and hewed
Ringin of the hammer was judgement
Singin of the saw God said repent
A hundred years he hammered and sawed
Building the ark by the grace of God
After the foundation was laid
Heaved down the timber and the ark was made
Called in the animals two by two
There was the ox the camel and the kangaroo
Followed with the monkey and the crocodile
The little baby animal that couldn't smile
Packed them in the ark so tight
They all didn't get no sleep that night
Called in Japhet Shem and Ham
God began to flood the land
Raised his hand to heaven on high
Knocked that sun and the moon from the sky
Shook the mountains and stirred the sea
Hitched his reins to his chariot wheel
Stepped over land and split out the shore
There is time for to be no more
There is time for to be no more
There is time for to be no more
There is time for to be no more
Cause it's gonna rain
Cause it's gonna rain
Cause it's gonna rain
Cause it's gonna rain

Cause it's gonna ra-a-a-in

CAPETOWN by Jake Holmes - M. xaba - R. Bopape

She sparkles like a diamond
Look at her people
Look at them dance look at them laugh
Singing a song
They make like happy children
Wearing friendly faces
Everyone knows everyone knows where they belong
Where they belong

Capetown I'm drowning in your beauty
Capetown but my heart's feeling sad
Capetown Angels black white of sin
Capetown there's a shadow on your mountain
Capetown there's a flaw in your sparkle
Capetown there's a crying at your crossroads
Let me in let me in let me in

The rush of silky color
The sound of Dixie banjos
Mongrel melodies in quarter tones
Streets of milling marchers
Hatted in their feathers
The lilt the lilt of xhosa saxophones xhosa saxophones

Capetown there's a hole at the heart of you
A hole where District 6 used to be
Capetown the brown ghosts are dancing
To be free oh to be free
Capetown there's an island in your ocean
Capetown where black blood is running
Capetown hear the voices calling from your sea
You belong to me you belong to me

Tidy whitewashed houses
Sprays of wildflowers
The heart and soul of gentility
The vineyards and the orchards
Warm white sandy beaches
Old and graceful luxury

Capetown they're squatting in your desert
Capetown in shanties made of plastic
Capetown exiles in your homeland
Capetown struggling with your reason
Capetown holding back your madness
Capetown it's a bitter fruit you harvest
Capetown oh oh


Lest we forget. - edgar

HENE MA TOV adapted from Psalm 133:1

Hene ma-tov o-mah-na chim
Shevet achim gam-yachad tec.



Translation: Behold! How good and how pleasant it is indeed, when brothers dwell together

FIFTEEN by Alan Greene - Robert Nemeroff

The sweetest wine in the world
Is the fruit on the vine
The sweetest love in all truth
Is the love of your youth

At fifteen I saw her and thought her
So beautiful I kissed her from a distance
For my young love was locked inside

The sweetest wine in the world
Is the fruit on the vine
The sweetest love neath the skies
Is the love she denies

At sixteen I met her and yet her
Sweet loving lips were eager for another
And my young love was cast aside

The sweetest wine in the world
Is the fruit on the vine
The sweetest love I have learned
Is the love that's returned

At eighteen I wooed her
Afraid love would once again elude her
I pursued her
And I made her my darling bride

She's mine now
For ever and ever
I'll sip the wine of fifteen sixteen eighteen
For the fruit on the vine is mine

SUZANNE by Belafonte

Every night when the sun goes down
Every night when the sun goes down
Every night when the sun goes down
Hang my head and mournful cry
Suzanne Suzanne Suzanne you're gone

True love don't weep true love don't mourn
True love don't weep true love don't mourn
True love don't weep or mourn for me
Going back to Mobile town
Suzanne Suzanne Suzanne you're gone

Someday I pray my train will come
Someday I pray my train will come
Someday I pray my train will come
Then I can go back where I come from
Suzanne Suzanne Suzanne you're gone

Every night when the sun goes down
Every night when the sun goes down
Every night when the sun goes down
Hang my head and mournful cry
Suzanne Suzanne Suzanne you're gone

TROUBLES by Belafonte

Troubles
Any old troubles
Troubles
Any old troubles
Give me your troubles one by one
I'll trade 'em all for a bag of fun
Any old troubles

Tears
Any old tears
Tears
Any old tears
Sun's gonna rise in the mornin yes
Set in the evening with a sweet caress
Any old tears

Pain
Any old pain
Pain
Any old pain
I don't care what you've been told
All that glitters sure ain't gold
I'm gonna take you on that happy train
First you gotta give me all of your pain
Any old pain

Troubles
Any old troubles
Troubles
Any old troubles
Give me your troubles one by one
I'll trade 'em all for a bag of fun
Any old troubles

ISLAND IN THE SUN by Belafonte - Lord Burgess

This is my island in the sun
Where my people have toiled since time begun
I may sail on many a sea
Her shores will always be home to me

Oh island in the sun
Willed to me by my father's hand
All my days I will sing in praise
Of your forests waters your shining sand

When morning breaks the heaven on high
I lift my heavy load to the sky
Sun comes down with a burning glow
Mingles my sweat with the Earth below

I see woman on bended knee
Cutting cane for her family
I see man at the waterside
Casting nets at the surging tide

I hope the day will never come
That I can't awake to the sound of drums
Never let me miss carnival
The calypso songs philosophical

Oh island in the sun
Willed to me by my father's hand
All my days I will sing in praise
Of your forest waters your shining sand

DELIA by Fred Brookes - Lester Judson

Delia Delia where have you been so long
Delia Delia everything I had is gone
The trees have left the countryside
Frost is on the ground
Birds all sing a different song
With a low and a lonesome sound
With a low and a lonesome sound

Delia Delia where have you been so long
Delia Delia everything I had is gone
If we could count the falling stars
As we have done before
Or share the sound of summer rain
I'd never ask for more
I'd never ask for more

Who can tell where Delia's gone
Or why she went away
Or if she always knew
She'd break my heart one day
She'd break my heart one day

Delia Delia where have you gone so long
Delia Delia everything I had is gone