"Marianne" is a traditional calypso song made popular by

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

calypsonian A calypsonian,Definition of CALYPSO
Roaring Lion Roaring Lion (22 February 190811 July 1999) was a Trinidadian calypsonian (calypso singer/composer). His 65-year career began in the early 1930s and he is best known for his compositions "Ugly Woman" (1933), " Mary Ann" and "Netty, Netty", whi ...

History

"Mary Ann" is a traditional calypso that was recorded by Trinidadian calypsonian Roaring Lion (born Rafael de Leon). It was popular with steel bands and revelers during a spontaneous carnival celebration on

V-J Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...

in Trinidad in 1945, at the end of World War II. The song's lyrics allude to Mary Ann's occupation: :All day, all night, Miss Mary Ann :Down by the seaside, she sifting sand.

Recordings

* Spanish bandleader

Xavier Cugat Xavier Cugat (; 1 January 1900 – 27 October 1990) was a Spanish musician and bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a leading figure in the spread of Latin music. In New York City ...

recorded a version of "Mary Ann" in the late 1940s. During the 1956–57 American calypso craze, the Easy Riders,

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

, and other interpreters of folk music further popularized the song, generally under the title "Marianne".

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 ...

recorded the track on at least three albums. "Mary Ann" continued to be a favorite with steel bands and calypso entertainers at Caribbean tourist hotels for many years. * The most popular version was recorded by

Terry Gilkyson Terry Gilkyson (June 17, 1916 — October 15, 1999) was an American folk singer and songwriter. Biography Gilkyson was born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and graduated from St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island in 1935. By his early ...

and the Easy Riders (No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Top 100 in 1957); another version was recorded by the Hilltoppers in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

(No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Top 100). *

Les Compagnons de la chanson Les Compagnons de la chanson were a French harmony vocal group from Lyon, France, founded in 1946. Their best known song was "Les trois cloches" recorded with Edith Piaf in 1946. They were a nine-member group, and they were popular in France with ...

recorded a French version, which reached No. 3 on the Belgian chart in 1957. *

Trini Lopez Trinidad López III (May 15, 1937 – August 11, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and actor. His first album included a cover version of Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer", which earned a Golden Disc for him. His other hits included ...

included "Marianne" on his album ''

Trini Lopez at PJ's ''Trini Lopez at PJ's'' is the debut, live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. ...

'' on

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RS-6093 as part of a medley with "

Gotta Travel On "Gotta Travel On" is an American folksong. The earliest known version was printed in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag in 1927 under the title "Yonder Comes the High Sheriff" and several variations were recorded in the 1920s, but the best kno ...

", "

Down by the Riverside "Down by the Riverside" (also known as "Ain't Gonna Study War No More" and "Gonna lay down my burden") is an African-American spiritual. Its roots date back to before the American Civil War, though it was first published in 1918 in ''Plantation ...

", "

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", and " Volare".

References in popular culture

* In

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

's 1958

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

novel '' Dr. No'', Honeychile Rider whistles ''Marion'' icon a beach in Jamaica and Bond joins in singing a couple of lines. Fleming implies that the original calypso was racier and had been 'cleaned up' in the contemporaneous popular recording. The lines he quotes are: All day, all night, Marion, Sittin' by the seaside siftin' sand … The water from her eyes could sail a boat, The hair on her head could tie a goat … The last two lines are not in the Terry Gilkyson version. *

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 ...

sang about

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

based on this song, which went as follows (from ''Shticks of one Kind and Half Dozen of Another''): All day, all night, Cary Grant That's all I hear from my wife, is Cary Grant What can he do that I can't Big deal, big star, Cary Grant * In the nudie-cartoon anthology '' Sex to Sexty'', which included "Balled-Up Ballads"—popular tunes with racy lyrics—the following lines were written for "Marianne": All day, all night, Marianne; Who the hell you think I am,

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

References

External links

''Mary Ann'', first known recording by Roaring Lion, circa 1945
(on

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)
''Marianne'', recording by Terry Gilkyson & The Easy Riders, 1957
(on

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''Marianne'', recorded by Jimmy Leyden and his Orchestra, 1958
(on

) Number-one singles in Australia Trini Lopez songs Terry Gilkyson songs {{pop-song-stub