Talk:Marianne (Terry Gilkyson song)

Popular Culture

The song is mentioned in one of the earlier James Bond books. Graywriter (talk) 04:29, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

Finally found it. In Dr. No, Honeychile Rider whistles it (identified as Marion) on a beach in Jamaica. Bond (unseen by her until then) joins in singing a couple of lines. Here's the excerpt:

As if to answer him, the girl made a throwaway gesture of the right hand and scattered a dozen shells on the sand beside her. They were violet pink and seemed to Bond to be the same as he had noticed on the beach. The girl looked down into her left hand and began to whistle softly to herself. There was a happy note of triumph in the whistle. She was whistling ‘Marion’, a plaintive little calypso that has now been cleaned up and made famous outside Jamaica. It had always been one of Bond’s favourites. It went:
     All day, all night, Marion, 
     Sittin’ by the seaside siftin’ sand …
The girl broke off to stretch her arms out in a deep yawn. Bond smiled to himself. He wetted his lips and took up the refrain:
     ‘The water from her eyes could sail a boat, 
     The hair on her head could tie a goat …’

I think this should go in Popular culture, especially since a) the song is actually quoted, b) words not in the pop version are quoted, & c) the implication is that there is a racier version (wish I could find it!) Fleming presumably knew what he was writing about, since he lived in Jamaica when writing. --D Anthony Patriarche (talk) 22:58, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

 Done--D Anthony Patriarche (talk) 00:12, 11 August 2019 (UTC)

Reference checking?

At least one of the versions credited to Harry Belafonte (Belafonte By Request), in reference 3, is a different song entirely, also named Marianne. What's a more reliable sort of reference checking than YouTubes for fixing it?199.200.31.194 (talk) 22:57, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

Author? Occupation?

§ History says

"Mary Ann," composed by calypsonian Roaring Lion (born name: Rafael de Leon), was popular with steelbands and revelers during a spontaneous Carnival celebration on V-J Day in Trinidad in 1945, at the end of World War II. The song's lyrics alluded to Mary Ann's occupation:

All day, all night, Miss Mary Ann

Down by the seaside, she sifting sand

1: In the track listings of Harry Belafonte's albums ( Belafonte Concert in Japan, Belafonte by Request , Belafonte...Live! ) the song is credited to William Eaton. And the title of this article credits Terry Gilkyson. Can we please settle on one name, and that the right one?

2: Also:

The song's lyrics alluded to Mary Ann's occupation.

And that is...? It's not obvious to me. Prostitute? An encyclopedia is no place to be mealy-mouthed.

Please {{ ping }} me to discuss.

--Thnidu (talk) 03:55, 27 July 2017 (UTC)

Literally "sifting sand", looking for coins, watches, and other valuables lost by beachgoers. It's a poor person's occupation. 199.200.31.194 (talk) 22:54, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

None of those attributions are correct. Follow citation 1 and read carefully. It plainly states that Roaring Lion regularly recording "calypso standards" and names Mary Ann among other tracks. This song is a traditional calypso with no known composer. See here: https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6TpuVW6QA4C&q=marianne%20song%20%22roaring%20lion%22&pg=PT884#v=snippet&q=marianne%20song%20%22roaring%20lion%22&f=false 66.129.219.127 (talk) 18:38, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

External Links

I have replaced the link to a YouTube TV performance by the Hoosier Hotshots (wildly inappropriate IMO!) with links to the original 1945 recording by Roaring Lion (de Leon), and the highly popular Terry Gilkyson recording (1957) which gives the article its title. There is a slightly later recording by 'The Lion' (de Leon) on UK Parlophone, variously dated to 1946 or 1951, available on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGjqNGJYaPw. The quality is much better than the earlier recording, but the one I selected appears to be the earliest known recording; it also has some contemporary pictures. There is another early recording by 'Sir Lancelot' at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUXcjU-hHU that sounds earlier to my ears; I will do more digging, but would appreciate help from 78 record buffs & calypso musicologists; I suspect the folk-song is older even than the Lion's version, and he may have just been the first compiler & popularizer, as happened with many popular calypsos. --D Anthony Patriarche (talk) 02:04, 11 August 2019 (UTC)

Chart Ranking

...reference only a page in a book, rather that a shot of the actual chart. AMCKen (talk) 08:12, 3 March 2024 (UTC)