#3: Round The Bay Of Mexico by Harry Belafonte

City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: October 1959
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position Dutch Singles Chart ~ #11
YouTube: “Round the Bay Of Mexico”
Lyrics: “Round The Bay Of Mexico”

Harold “Harry” George Bellanfanti Jr. was born in 1927 in New York City. He lived with one of his grandmothers in Jamaica from 1932 to 1940. In the 1940s, he worked as a janitor’s assistant, during which a tenant gave him, as a gratuity, two tickets to see the American Negro Theater. He fell in love with the art form and befriended Sidney Poitier, who was also financially struggling. At the end of the 1940s, Belafonte took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York City. His classmates included Tony Curtis, Bea Arthur, Marlon Brando, Sidney Poitier, and Walter Matthau. He launched his recording career as a pop singer on the Roost label in 1949, but quickly developed a keen interest in folk music, learning material through the Library of Congress’ American folk songs archives. Along with guitarist and friend Millard Thomas, Belafonte soon made his debut at the legendary jazz club The Village Vanguard. In the 1949-50 season, Belafonte was a regular on the all-black variety show Sugar Hill Times on CBS.

He signed a recording contract with RCA Victor in 1953. Harry Belafonte (as he was now billed) soon became known for his signature audience participation song, “Matilda”. His debut single, “Gomen-nasai”, climbed to #19 on the Billboard pop chart. That year he starred in his first film titled Bright Road. On October 11, 1953, he made his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, alongside Teresa Brewer.

On January 17, 1954, Belafonte returned to The Ed Sullivan Show, alongside Tony Bennett and classic film star Franchot Tone. He had a #3 album on the Billboard pop chart titled Mark Twain and Other Folk Favorites. Harry Belafonte also starred in Carmen Jones. That year Belafonte received a Tony Award for Best Actor in the musical John Murray Anderson’s Almanac. In 1955, Belafonte was in the Broadway musical 3 for Tonight which won Best Musical award by the Outer Critics Circle Award. That year he appeared on three occasions on the Colgate Comedy Hour. And he was back for a third time on The Ed Sullivan Show in April ’55.

In 1956, Belafonte performed at the 28th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. He appeared as a guest for the 8th anniversary special on The Ed Sullivan Show also featuring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Abbott and Costello, Louis Armstrong, Eddie Cantor, Art Carney and Jackie Gleason. That year he released his self-titled album Belafonte which peaked at #1. Next, he released the album Calypso. It became the first album to sell a million copies in one year, and his second number-one album. The track, “Jamaica Farewell”, climbed to #14 on the Billboard pop chart. This was followed in ’56 by the single “Mary’s Boy Child”, which reached #1 in the UK, #12 in the USA, and #20 in the Netherlands.

His “Banana Boat Song” was listed on Calypso as “Day-O”. In 1957, it climbed to #5 on the Billboard pop chart, and #1 in Belgium and the Netherlands, and #2 in the UK.

In the spring of 1957, Belafonte had a #8 hit on the Cashbox pop chart with “Mama Look at Bubu”. This was followed by the Top 30 hits in the USA: “Coconut Woman”, and “Island in the Sun”. The latter reached #3 in the UK, #5 in Belgium, and #6 in the Netherlands. The song came from the film Island in the Sun. Starring Harry Belafonte, it was the sixth highest grossing film if 1957. That year the album An Evening with Harry Belafonte peaked at #2. This was followed later that year with Belafonte Sings of the Caribbean. The album climbed to #3. He also appeared on The Nat King Cole Show and The Steve Allen Plymouth Show. 

In 1958, “The Marching Saints” was a #13 hit in Belgium. While in the UK, “Little Bernadette” climbed to #16 and “The Son of Mary” reached #18. Harry Belafonte’s next single release was “Round the Bay of Mexico”.

“Round the Bay of Mexico” is a song about someone on a boat who has anchored in the Bay of Mexico. The sailor has been sailing for “a month or more.” They have a deep affinity for Mexico, “the place where I belong.” This could mean they are a Mexican citizen, or that once they first arrived in Mexico they felt a sense of having arrived at a place where they most feel at home. They’re looking forward to being on land again after sailing the past few months. Once they’ve docked their boat, they anticipate hanging out in “a big cafe and a bottle full o’ rye.” As well he looks forward to a good meal: “Some beans and rice to soothe my taste.” The sailor intends to collect souvenirs – “a kerchief or two” –  and stories to share with others about their growing connections to the wider world. Add to all this a little romance: “There’s Rosita and Chiquita and pretty maid Bell. If I meet them all at once I’ll never get well.” Especially true if Rosita, Chiquita and Bell each think he’s dating them, and them alone.

“Round the Bay of Mexico” was recorded as “The Bay Of Mexico” in 1952 by the Weavers.

Weavers ’78 RPM “The Bay Of Mexico” on Decca Records (1952)

The song by The Weavers was credited to Paul Campbell. This was a nom-de-plume used by the folk group between 1950 and 1953 for collaborations by its members Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, and Pete Seeger. But the songs’ origins go back to Georgia Sea Islands. This is a chain of nine islands from the South Carolina-Georgia border: Tybee Island, to the Georgia-Florida border: Cumberland Island. (There are 21 Sea Islands along the Atlantic coast from South Carolina into Florida).

The first recording of “Round the Bay of Mexico” was in 1935 by Henry Lundy from the Bahamas album recording Chanteys and Anthems from Andros and Cat Island. Andros and Cat islands are in the Bahamas. In some early recordings, the song included these verses:

When I was a young man, in my prime,
Take those pretty gals two at a time.

Pretty gals in Mexico,
Wriggle their arse with a roll and go.

As well, the song appeared on the debut self-titled 1958 album The Kingston Trio. In the Kingston Trio lyrics, the sailor also warns “Wind from the east, and its blowin’ strong, looks like a hurricane coming along. The wind will blow and the rain will pour, better get the sugar boats up on the shore.” The Kingston Trio also compare the ladies in the Bay of Mexico with “the girls in Nassau, the Bahamas. On that island in the Caribbean, the girls don’t use a comb to comb their hair, but a “whipper back bone.” This is true to the original 1935 recording. In addition, the Kingston Trio have the sailor sing that when he settles down it will be with “a big fat mama from Bimini (Bahamas) Town.”

“Round the Bay of Mexico” peaked at #1 in Hull (QC), and #5 in Stevens Point (WI). The song climbed to #11 in the Netherlands.

In 1959, Harry Belafonte joined with Lena Horne to record the album Porgy and Bess. It rose to #13 on the Billboard pop chart. As well, the live album Belafonte at Carnegie Hall peaked at #3. That year he appeared in a science fiction post-apocalyptic film titled The World, the Flesh and the Devil. He also appeared in the film noir movie Odds Against Tomorrow. On December 1959, he hosted a show titled Tonight with Belafonte.

In 1960 Belafonte had another live album Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall. In 1961, Harry Belafonte released the studio album Jump Up Calypso. The album climbed to #3. The following year, Belafonte’s album, Midnight Special, cracked the Top Ten on the Billboard album chart and reached #8. That year he also appeared in a commercial endorsing Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy. In January ’61, Belafonte performed at Kennedy’s inaugural ball. During the 1960s, Harry Belafonte was dissatisfied with the offers he received for roles in film. So he concentrated his time on recordings, TV appearances, concerts and the civil rights movement.

Belafonte refused to perform in the American South from 1954 until 1961. After King had been arrested for his involvement in the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, he began traveling to Northern cities to spread awareness and acquire donations for those struggling with social segregation and oppression in the South. The two met at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem in March ’56. This interaction led to years of joint political activism and friendship. Belafonte joined King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, during the 1958 Washington D.C. Youth March for Integrated Schools. In 1963, he backed King in conversations with Robert F. Kennedy, helping to organize the August 28, 1963 March on Washington – the site of King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

In 1961, Belafonte was a guest on Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall. On April 22, 1962, he was back on The Ed Sullivan Show with Connie Francis and Miriam Makeba.

In 1964, Harry Belafonte released the live album Belafonte at the Greek Theatre. He also was a guest one last time on The Ed Sullivan Show in March ’64. In the ’60s, he presented at several of The Emmy Awards and The Tony Awards. He was seen multiple times on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, What’s My Line?, The Bell Telephone Hour, and The Mere Griffin Show. In the 60s and 70s, Belafonte was also a guest on The Julie Andrews Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Muppet Show, The Flip Wilson Show, The New Bill Cosby Show, The Dick Cavett Show, The Lee Phillip Show, The Real Tom Kennedy Show, The David Frost Show, Petula, The Danny Kaye Show, The Dinah Shore Special, The New Les Crane Show, and The Revlon Revue among others.

In 1968, Belafonte appeared on a Petula Clark primetime television special on NBC. In the middle of a duet of On the Path of Glory, Clark smiled and briefly touched Belafonte’s arm, which prompted complaints from Doyle Lott, the advertising manager of the show’s sponsor, Plymouth Motors. Lott wanted to retape the segment, but Petula Clark, who had ownership of the special, told NBC that the performance would be shown intact or she would not allow it to be aired at all. Newspapers reported the controversy, Lott was relieved of his responsibilities, and when the special aired, it attracted high ratings.

In 1970, Belafonte starred opposite Zero Mostel in The Angel Levine, cast as a Jewish angel in training. That year he narrated the documentary King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis.

In 1972, he played opposite Sidney Poitier as a preacher in Buck and the Preacher. The film broke Hollywood Western traditions by casting black actors as central characters and portraying both tension and solidarity between African Americans and Native Americans in the late 19th century.

The soundtrack was composed by jazz legend Benny Carter.

Belafonte starred again opposite Poitier in 1974 in the action comedy crime film Uptown Saturday Night. In this movie, Harry Belafonte played a gangster. Bill Cosby was also a leading actor in the movie. Among his TV appearances in the ’80s, Belafonte was a guest at The 6th Annual Black Achievement Awards, several specials and mini-series about the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Freedomfest: Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday Celebration, a Nat “King” Cole special, and The Arsenio Hall Show. Between 1964 and 1988, Harry Belafonte appeared on a dozen occasions as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

In 1985, Harry Belafonte was one of the recording stars who performed as part of the U.S.A. for Africa charity single “We Are the World”. From 1987 until his death, he was a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

In 1995, Belafonte played a black CEO of a factory who is kidnapped by a white factory worker (John Travolta) over a perceived slight in the film White Man’s Burden. In 1996, he played a mob kingpin of a jazz club and casino in Kansas City, concerning a Democratic primary in 1934. In 2001, he appeared the documentary Fidel: The Untold Story. In 2006, Belafonte acted in the film Bobby, a fictionalized account of the hours leading up to the June 5, 1968, shooting of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles following his win of the 1968 Democratic Presidential Primary in California.

In the last decades of his career, Harry Belafonte appeared on Larry King Live, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Sesame Street, 60 Minutes, the 1998 TV movie Robert F. Kennedy: A Memoir, Bill Maher, The Colbert Report, Charlie Rose, Whoopi Goldberg, Politics Nation with Al Sharpton, 

In 2011, he was the subject and star of the documentary Sing Your Song. The film recounted his life and legacy, not only as a great entertainer, but as an important activist in the Civil Rights Movement.

In 2016, Belafonte endorsed Vermont U.S. senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries, saying: “I think he represents opportunity, I think he represents a moral imperative, I think he represents a certain kind of truth that’s not often evidenced in the course of politics.” Belafonte was an honorary cochairman of the Women’s March on Washington, which took place on January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president.

In 2018, Belafonte appeared in the Academy Award winning film BlacKkKlansman.

Over his career, Harry Belafonte released 27 studio albums, and seven live albums. The last of these was An Evening with Harry Belafonte and Friends in 1997.

Harry Belafonte died of congestive heart failure at the age of 96 in 2023.

November 18, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Harry Belafonte, legendary performer and activist, dead at 96,” CBC, April 25, 2023.
“Calypso – Harry Belafonte (1956),” Library of Congress, 2017.
Marc Myers, “Harry Belafonte: 1949,” allaboutjazz.com, February 15, 2017.
“President-elect and Mrs. Kennedy Arrive at the Inaugural Gala, January 19, 1961,” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
The Weavers, “Bay of Mexico“, Decca Records, 1952.
Kingston Trio, “Bay of Mexico“, Capitol Records, 1958.
Henry Lundy, “Round the Bay of Mexico“, Chanteys and Anthems from Andros and Cat Island, 1935.
“Round the Bay of Mexico“, The Mudcat Cafe, 1999.
“Sea Islands,” Wikipedia.org.
Amy Goodman, “Sing Your Song”: Harry Belafonte on Art & Politics, Civil Rights & His Critique of President Obama,” Democracy Now!, May 16, 2011.
“Belafonte Ire Brings Penalty: Chrysler Official Apologizes to Star,” Toledo Star, Toledo, OH, March 11, 1968.
“Harry Belafonte Endorses Bernie Sanders for President,” 2016.
Steven Ross, “Politics in Black and White: Harry Belafonte,” Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics, (Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 185-226.
Judith E. Smith, “Multimedia Stardom and the Struggle for Racial Equality, 1955-1960,” Becoming Belafonte: Black Artist, Public Radical, (University of Texas Press, 2014), pp. 110-175.

CKCH 970-AM Hull (ON) Top Ten | October 17, 1959