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Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) Lyrics
Day-oh Day-oh Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Day-oh Day-oh Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Six han' seven han' eight han' bunc
Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Six han' seven han' eight han' bunch
Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Come mister tally man tally me banana
Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Come mister tally man tally me banana
Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Day-oh Day-oh Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Day-oh Day-oh Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Day-oh Day-oh Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Six han' seven han' eight han' bunch
Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Come mister tally man tally me banana
Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Day-oh Day-oh Daylight come an' I wanna go home
Song Info
Submitted by
pharmaecopia On Aug 14, 2002
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Cargo ships traveled to the British Isles to purchase bananas. Wealthy Brits paid to travel on these ships to see the islands (comparable to cruise ships of today). At nighttime the ships docked to allow the island women to bring their bananas to sell. When the daylight came they would collect their pay from the tally man and return to their families. This story was told to us by a ninety year old lady who traveled on one of these ships. Out of the entire trip she was most amazed by the women, because they carried such enormous bunches of bananas on their heads. She was moved by the physical and spiritual strength of the women as they seemingly worked joyfully throughout the night. This song is amazing and so is this woman.
That may be a true story, but it's not what the song is about. It's actually about the men working at the docks, loading bananas on and off boats during the nights. When the morning came, the tally man would come and pay them according to how much work they've done (how many bunches they'd moved), before they could go home. Hence "Six han' seven han' eight han' bunch/Daylight come an' I wanna go home" and "Come mister tally man tally me banana". The sun is rising and he's eager for the tally man to come......
That may be a true story, but it's not what the song is about. It's actually about the men working at the docks, loading bananas on and off boats during the nights. When the morning came, the tally man would come and pay them according to how much work they've done (how many bunches they'd moved), before they could go home. Hence "Six han' seven han' eight han' bunch/Daylight come an' I wanna go home" and "Come mister tally man tally me banana". The sun is rising and he's eager for the tally man to come...
@Dr. Awkward Cute story, not at all what the song is about! It was a protest song written against the Chiquita Banana Company and how they treated their workers on the plantations. And those lovely women taken to the British boats were most often the wives of the plantation workers that were forced to be prostitutes when their husbands didn't do the company required amount of work in a given night before because the company owned everything and the people though considered "free people" owed always more than they could earn to the company store and the company landlord...
@Dr. Awkward Cute story, not at all what the song is about! It was a protest song written against the Chiquita Banana Company and how they treated their workers on the plantations. And those lovely women taken to the British boats were most often the wives of the plantation workers that were forced to be prostitutes when their husbands didn't do the company required amount of work in a given night before because the company owned everything and the people though considered "free people" owed always more than they could earn to the company store and the company landlord and even the company doctor! God forbid you get sick or you'd owe the rest of your life and every night of your wife a prostitute to pay off the debt of the doctors care!
This version has at least closest to the right word for the measure of the banana's! The term is "Haan" not "hand" a "hand" is a measurement used for the height of a horse at the shoulders. A "Haan" is and actual count of the layers of the banana's in the blossom. Banana's grow in the "up" position not hanging down. The fruit people eat is the blossom of a tropical flowering plant. (In North America people grow them as "Elephant Ear Plants" because they never bloom!) So when you go to the grocery store and buy a "bunch" of banana's you are typically buying only one sixth or one eighth of 2 haan's of banana's because they always pull the blossom apart into manageable and box-able bunches that are only 2 haan's each (because a single haan would not hold together as a bunch and a bunch with 3 haan would be unmanageable and would not colour out well for the middle haan as banana's are picked green and ripen on the boat coming to you.) Also this song is about the banana pickers and how they were used, abused, and treated like slaves. This is NOT a "happy worker" song, it was a protest of the working conditions of the Chiquita Banana Plantations! So Chiquita came out with the Carmen Miranda based woman with a bowl of fruit on her head singing happily and bring you beautiful fresh fruit! Scotty
i really like it it is funny and inspiring to me
I LOVE DIS SONG!!!!! IT'S IN THE TIM BURTON MOVIE BEETLE JUICE!!!!!!!!!!!
this song is awful to get stuck in your head. and reminds me so much of beetlejuice haha.
Day- O might just mean Day is over, Let's call it a day! What do you think?
This song was originally sung by jamaican dock workers.
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one bomb, two bomb, three bomb, four! daylight come and me want to go home... come on mr. taliban, turn over bin laden day light come and me want to go home ...missle knockin at your door day light come and me wanna go home