The intense singsong cry of “Dayo Iddeo” was deeply etched in the heart of a small island boy from the Orient who was nine years old in 1957.
The country of Japan, where the boy was born in 1948, was defeated in World War II and unconditionally surrendered to the Allies three years earlier, in 1945.
The Allied Forces then moved into Japan and ruled the defeated nation, which, although Allied, was in effect the U.S. Army itself. Many American soldiers came to Japan. They brought with them an influx of American culture, and American music, including jazz and pop, flowed into Japan like a river.
For example, in 1956, Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” became a big hit in Japan, and boys and girls eagerly sang the Japanese translation of the song.
Heartbreak Hotel is always crowded with lovesick teenagers.
I’m So Lonely, Baby, I’m So Lonely, I’m So Lonely That I Cud Die.”
Although there was a long period of “devil-may-care” and no exposure to Western culture until 1945, the boys and girls born in 1948 were a little Americanized by 1957.
However, “Dayo Ide Deo” had an exotic flavor even for those boys and girls who had been somewhat Americanized. The lyrics were actually in English, but Harry Belafonte, who has a Jamaican mother, sang the Jamaican work song in English and must have put the nuances of the Jamaican language into the lyrics.
So to me it sounded like an exotic language, not American.
Because the word “banana” was mentioned, I assumed this was a song about a tropical region around the equator. Even at the age of nine, I knew the words and concepts of Latin America or Latin America. It refers to the region of South America south of Mexico to the southern tip of the continent.
At that time, I didn’t know that most Latin American countries were Spanish-speaking, and that only the great nation of Brazil was Portuguese-speaking.
However, I had the impression that the languages of Latin America were sticky, and I assumed by analogy that the song must be from a country located in the tropics among them.
The lyrics of the Japanese version of “Banana Boat” include the words, “Drink a rum and wait for me. The original lyrics are “I drank rum and worked all night long,” so “Drink rum and wait for me” is not even an intentional translation, but a translation that has been altered to suit the setting.
Aside from that, I don’t know what “rum” is, so I asked someone adult and was told that it is a liquor made from sugar cane.
When I think of “sugarcane in the tropics,” Cuba is the first country that comes to mind, but Jamaica, right next door, also produces sugarcane and bananas. Jamaica came to mind in association with Cuba, but “dayo iddeo” was a product of Jamaica.
The soulful cries of the Jamaican laborers in the sticky Latin America were etched deep into the heart of a nine-year-old boy from the distant Orient.
The power of song is truly great, for even 65 years later, the shiver in the heart of a nine-year-old boy lives on.
