Day-O
Day-O is a popular children’s song that is fun to sing and entertaining, too. When we sing these songs, we don’t often stop to wonder how it came about or what its history is. We just simply enjoy them and pass them along to kids.
Rhyme Writing
Most, if not all things are written down for a reason or two, one of which would be recording history. This song was first recorded in 1953 by Edric Connor, although it has been around since the 12th Century. Edric Connor was a musician from Trinidad and sang it with his band as the song Dey de Light. Then another band got a hold of one of the variations of this song and made quite a bit of money off of it. Edric’s mother was a native of Jamaica where Edric spent most of his youth there.
Theories and Reasons
The song was composed as a work song, as dock workers were loading bananas onto ships. While this is a literal interpretation concerning bananas, the ‘bananas’ in one’s life can be a multiplicity of other things, meaning anyone can sing it. The chorus tells the ‘tally man’ they want to go home but the tally man would count bananas the next morning, as they had picked bananas during the night.
Lyrics
The Day-O lyrics to the song are pretty clear that they are talking about gathering bananas and they often talk about when the sun comes up. This means they are often working at night and loading bananas into the ship.
Here are some fun facts about Jamaica and bananas:
The Jamaican banana plant is not a tree. It is the world’s largest herb.
There has been a decline in banana harvesting and planting, but they have taken to more profitable exports, like sugar and other goods that are easier and more profitable.