"Jamaica Farewell" is a Jamaican-style folk song (

mento Mento is a style of Music of Jamaica, Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. ...

). The lyrics for the song were written by Lord Burgess (

Irving Burgie Irving Louis Burgie (July 28, 1924 – November 29, 2019), sometimes known professionally as Lord Burgess, was an American musician and songwriter, regarded as one of the greatest composers of Caribbean music.Barbadian songwriter. It is about the beauties of the West Indian Islands.

Harry Belafonte recording

The song appeared on

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

's 1956 album '' Calypso''. It reached number 14 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Pop chart.

Background

Many, including Belafonte himself, have said that the song was popular in the West Indies since long before Burgess. It is believed that Burgess compiled and modified the song from many folk pieces to make a new song. Burgess acknowledged his use of the tune of another mento, "Iron Bar". The line "

ackee The ackee, also known as ankye, achee, akee, ackee apple or ayee (''Blighia sapida'') is a fruit of the Sapindaceae ( soapberry) family, as are the lychee and the longan. It is native to tropical West Africa. The scientific name honours Captain ...

, rice, saltfish are nice" refers to the Jamaican national dish.

Covers

Artists who have covered "Jamaica Farewell" include: *

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

(feat. The Five Dimensions) *

Sir Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...

Don Williams Donald Ray Williams (May 27, 1939 – September 8, 2017) was an American country singer, songwriter, and 2010 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He began his solo career in 1971, singing popular ballads and amassing seventeen number ...

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...

* Sam Cooke *

Nina & Frederik Nina & Frederik were a Danish–Dutch popular singing duo of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their repertoire consisted of a blend of folk music, calypsos and standards.Sleeve notes of album ''Nina & Frederik'' – MFP 1401, by Verity Stevens Th ...

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Thin ...

Laura Veirs Laura Pauline Veirs (born October 24, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter based out of Portland, Oregon. She is known for her folk/ alternative country records and live performances as well as her collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang o ...

, on her 2011 album ''Tumble Bee'' *

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo, which encomp ...

and Sting, while playing a medley of his own "

Can't Stand Losing You "Can't Stand Losing You" is a song by English rock band The Police, released from their debut album ''Outlandos d'Amour'', both in 1978. The song also was released as the follow-up single to "Roxanne (The Police song), Roxanne", reaching number ...

Reggatta de Blanc ''Reggatta de Blanc'' is the second studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 2 October 1979 by A&M Records. It was the band's first release to top the UK Albums Chart and features their first two UK number-one singles: " Messa ...

" while still with

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...

in 1983 * Carleton "Bill" Bailey on the album ''Cruising With Bill Bailey'' (recorded while onboard MS Southward) (1960) * Ray Conniff Orchestra, on the album ''Happiness Is'' (1966) *

James Last Orchestra The James Last Orchestra was a German/multinational big-band orchestra. The orchestra was established in 1964 as a studio orchestra, led by jazz musician Hans Last. The orchestra started touring in 1968 and has been very popular worldwide. From 1 ...

, on the album ''Music From Across The Way'' (1971) * The Jukebox Band, on the TV show ''

Shining Time Station ''Shining Time Station'' is an American children's television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and American television producer Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by Quality Family Entertainment (the Ame ...

'', episode "Bully for Mr. Conductor" * Austrian pop singer Chris Denning (alias Helmut Rulofs) in 1978 *

Desmond Dekker Desmond Dekker (16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the earlie ...

, on the album ''Caribbean Playground''. *

Lil Ugly Mane Travis Miller (born May 13, 1984) is an American rapper, singer and record producer from Richmond, Virginia. He has recorded under multiple aliases in various genres since his first known released project in 2005, including Lil Ugly Mane, Shawn ...

, in a section of "Side Two-A" on the album ''Third Side of Tape'' * Robin Cook aka Jonas Ekfeldt *

Fisherman's Friends The Fisherman's Friends are a folk music group from Port Isaac, Cornwall, who sing sea shanties. They have been performing locally since 1995, and signed a record deal with Universal Music in March 2010. Whilst essentially an a cappella group, ...

, on the album ''Sole Mates'' *

The Kingston Trio The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...

, who led the folk revival of the late 1950s, took their name from the mention of

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

in the song; though they only recorded it years later, in 2006.

In other languages

This song has been translated into many languages. For example, in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, there exist several translations, some of which are quite well known. One Bengali version of the song became an important anthem for the Naxalite revolutionary movement in the 1970s and thus has significance for Bengali intellectuals in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

society. The Bangladeshi band

Souls In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

also sang their own translated version in early 1990s, which instantly became a hit in Bangladesh. The song was covered with lyrics in Swedish by Schytts as ''Jamaica farväl'', scoring a 1979

Svensktoppen ''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. The last years before the January 2003 cha ...

hit.

Streaplers Streaplers is a Swedish musical group, founded 1959 in Kungälv as a pop group and later developed into a dansband. Original members were Gert Lengstrand (vocals), Bjarne Lundquist, Göran Liljeblad, Håkan Liljeblad och Lars Larsson. The group m ...

recorded a 1967 Swedish-language version of the song, with the lyrics "Långt långt bort". Their version became a 1968 Svensktoppen hit. German translations are "Abschied von Kingston Town" ("Farewell from Kingston Town") by Bruce Low and "Weil der Sommer ein Winter war" ("For the Summer was a Winter") by

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, Germ ...

.
The Vietnamese translation is "Lời Yêu Thương" ("Love Words") by Đức Huy

Parodies

*In his album ''

My Son, the Folk Singer ''My Son, the Folk Singer'' is an album by Allan Sherman, released by Warner Bros. Records in 1962. On the album sleeve, the title appears directly below the words "Allan Sherman's mother presents." The album, recorded before a live audience, ...

'',

Allan Sherman Allan may refer to: People * Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name * Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker * Allan (footballer, born 1989) (Al ...

included a parody of the song on "Shticks and Stones": "I'm upside down, my head is spinning around, because I gotta sell the house in

Levittown Levittown is the name of several large suburban housing developments created in the United States (including one in Puerto Rico) by William J. Levitt and his company Levitt & Sons. Built after World War II for returning white veterans and their ...

!" *A

filk music Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. Etymology and defin ...

parody "Change at Jamaica Farewell" makes fun of the Long Island Rail Road.

Soundtrack appearances

This song was featured in the 2009 video game, ''

Rabbids Go Home ''Rabbids Go Home'' is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the Wii and Nintendo DS. The game was released in North America on November 1, 2009, in Australia on November 5, 2009 and in Europe on November 6, 2009. ...

'', at numerous points in the game. It further was featured in episode 8 of season 1 of the TV series, ''

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

''.

References

External links

Song lyrics

Calypso Artists List
{{authority control 1957 songs Jamaican songs Calypso songs Mento Streaplers songs Schytts songs Songs about Jamaica Harry Belafonte songs