It's a Christmas shopping Saturday so time for one of Blagg's GOFGOF's (Get One Free, Get One Free) offers. This year I'm gong one better by adding another GOF. Hey! Times are hard, we need to help those without.
We sadly lost 96-year-old Harry Belafonte this year. Born Harry Bellanfanti and dubbed the 'king of Calypso' - even though his output also included blues, folk, gospel, world music and the American songbook - Belafonte can lay claim to being the first person to sell a million copies of an album with his 1956 'Calypso' LP.
Even had Belafonte just remained a recording artist his legacy would have been impressive, but as an actor and more importantly, a Civil Rights activist, the singer can rightly claim an extraordinary legacy that prompted U.S. President Joe Biden to declare that "Belafonte's accomplishments are legendary. He used his talent and voice to help redeem the soul of our nation" going on to say his "Compassion and respect for dignity will endure forever".
In terms of Christmas music, Belafonte can claim top spot for his festive classic 'Mary's Boy Child' that reached the No:1 in the UK charts in November 1957 and remained there for seven weeks. Written a year earlier by Jester Hairston, the song was originally composed as a calypso birthday tune before Christmas lyrics were added. Belafonte heard it and asked to record it.
The song remained a festive favourite and many recordings were made as it turned into something of a yuletide standard but it was Boney M who mashed it up superbly with 'Oh My Lord' and took it back to Number 1 in 1978, cementing it as a definitive Christmas song.
Meanwhile, back in 1962, traditional and folk singer Enoch Kent used the 'Boy Child' tune, called it 'Christmas Comes But Once A Year' and added his own denouncement of the season.
'Mary's Boy Child' has never appeared on the Calendar before so here are both versions together with Kent's other opinion on it. Incidentally, Belafonte's song is over four-minutes long, itself something of a ground-breaking venture at a time when 45 RPM's rarely lasted over 2' 30"
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