
Info
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)
Lyrics
(Jamaican folk song)
Day-O, Day-O, Daylight come and I wanna go home
Day-O, Day-O, Daylight come and I wanna go home
Come, Mister Tally Man, tally me banana
Daylight come and I wanna go home
Come, Mister Tally Man, tally me banana
Daylight come and I wanna go home
Six han’, seven han’, eight han’ bunch,
Daylight come and I wanna go home
Six han’, seven han’, eight han’ bunch,
Daylight come and I wanna go home
See also
- Country: Jamaica
- Subjects: work songs
- Form: call & response
- Harmony: Orff arrangements / chords I & V
- Melody: dominant triad
- Meter: 4
- Rhythm: syncopation
- Scale: major
or purchase here (printables only)
- Printable & Digital Visuals

- PDF of song with chords + Lesson ideas + Orff arrangement
- MIDI file
- Listen to the song

