• Track Listing

From late ’56 to mid-’57 it seemed like rock ’n’ roll was out and calypso was here to stay. It spread from glee clubs to the dance floor, from TV and movies to the top of the charts. Of course it was Harry Belafonte who started it all, but a plethora of artists chimed in during calypso’s moment in the sun. The 176-page hardcover book here follows the music’s unlikely journey from Trinidad to America, and the DVD features the 1957 "calypso craze" film Calypso Joe starring Herb Jeffries and Angie Dickinson (never before issued on video or broadcast on TV) plus four short soundies from the ’40s and ’50s. The 173 tracks on 6 CDs take us from the music’s roots in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s to the calypso classics of the pop charts, stage and screen (and some surprises, too): Matilda King Radio; Rum and Coca Cola Andrews Sisters; Scandal in the Family Sir Lancelot; Calypsonian Invasion Duke of Iron; Cold in De Winter Lloyd Thomas; Run Joe Louis Jordan; His Feet Too Big for De Bed Stan Kenton; Somebody Bad Stole De Wedding Bell Eartha Kitt; Calypso Blues Nat King Cole; Mangos Rosemary Clooney; Don’t Stop the Carnival Sonny Rollins; Calypso Sweetheart Hank Snow; Jean and Dinah Robert Mitchum; Technique Pat Boone; Tastes Like Strawberries Johnny Desmond; Chocolate Whiskey & Vanilla Gin Edmundo Ros; Calypso Man Perez Prado; Delia’s Gone, and more—including a whole disc of Belafonte: Man Smart (Woman Smarter); Hold ’Em Joe; Banana Boat Song; Monkey; Jamaica Farewell, and more! Bear Family.