Day-O (Banana Boat Song)

This is a work song, thought to be sung by Jamaican banana workers, working the night shift loading bananas onto ships. In the morning, they want their work to be counted up so that they can go home. There were numerous versions of lyrics, some likely improvised on the spot by the singers as a call and response. The song was probably created around the second half of the nineteenth century or the first half of twentieth century, where there was a rise of the banana trade in Jamaica. (source)