The term Various Artists is used in the record industry when numerous singers and musicians collaborate on a song or collection of songs. Most often on Last.fm, compilation album tracks appear under the name of Various Artists erroneously because the individual artist is not listed in the album's ID3 information.
Compilation albums, for example.
Sometimes, single releases may be credited to Various Artists when their profits are going to charity and, usually in high-profile cases, are sometimes known by a group name. Examples include Band Aid with their releases of Do They Know It's Christmas? and USA for Africa with We Are The World.
Various Artists is also an actual performance name for Torsten Pröfrock, who runs the German DIN label. Torsten performs also as Dynamo, Erosion, Resilent, Traktor besides some others. He's a good friend of Robert Henke and since the Fall of 2004, he is a member of Monolake.
Various Artists was also a short-lived Bristol punk band formed by brothers Jonjo and Robin Key (originally from Birmingham). Other members were also simultaneously in Art Objects who went on to become The Blue Aeroplanes, the latter the Key brothers also co-wrote some songs and were involved in. When Various Artists imploded, the Key brothers went on to form Either / Or.
Various Artists also appear on tracks from musical theater soundtracks, due to the nature of having many cast members on one song, as well as an ensemble in some cases.
Day-O
Various Artists Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day ay ay o
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Work all night on a drink of rum
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Stack banana till the morning come
Come mister tally man, tally me banana
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Come mister tally man, tally me banana
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Day, me say day ay ay o
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
A beautiful bunch of ripe banana
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Hide the deadly black tarant'la
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Day, me say day ay ay o
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Come mister tally man, tally me banana
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Come mister tally man, tally me banana
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Day o, day ay ay o
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day ay ay o
(Daylight come and me wan' go home)
"Day-O" is a traditional Jamaican work song, also known as "The Banana Boat Song." The song is about workers loading bananas onto boats, counting the bunches and expressing their desire to go home when the day’s work is done. The catchy tune and repetitive lyrics were used by Jamaican laborers to make their back-breaking work a little more bearable. The song was popularized in the United States in the 1950s by Jamaican singer Harry Belafonte and helped to introduce the traditional music of Jamaica to a wider audience.
The chorus, "Daylight come and me wan’ go home," expresses the laborers' desire to finish their work and go back to their families. The verses describe the physical labor involved in harvesting and transporting bananas, including stacking them "till the morning come" and "lifting six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch." The final verse mentions a "deadly black tarant'la" that is hidden among the bananas, adding a note of danger to the otherwise upbeat song.
One interesting fact is that the melody of "Day-O" was actually adapted from a traditional Haitian song called "L'homme armé," which translates to "the armed man." Another is that the song was originally recorded in the 1930s by the Trinidadian calypso singer Edric Connor. Additionally, the song has been featured in several movies, including "Beetlejuice" and "The Minions," and has been covered by artists such as the Muppets, Beetlejuice actor Michael Keaton, and even heavy metal band System of a Down.
Chords (key of C):
C F
Day-o, day-ay-ay-o
C G7
Daylight come and me wan' go home
C F
Day-o, day-ay-ay-o
C G7 C
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Line by Line Meaning
Day o, day ay ay o
It's daytime and time to go home.
Daylight come and me wan' go home
I'm ready to go home now that the daylight has come.
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day ay ay o
I keep saying 'day' and want to go home.
Work all night on a drink of rum
I worked all night and only had rum to drink.
Stack banana till the morning come
I worked all night stacking bananas.
Come mister tally man, tally me banana
The tally man needs to count my bananas before I can go home.
Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
I need to lift bunches of bananas that are six, seven, or eight feet tall.
A beautiful bunch of ripe banana
I have a beautiful bunch of ripe bananas.
Hide the deadly black tarant'la
I need to hide the deadly black tarantula that's been found among the bananas.
Come mister tally man, tally me banana
The tally man needs to count my bananas again before I can finally go home.
Day o, day ay ay o
It's still daytime and I still want to go home.
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day
I still keep saying 'day' and want to go home.
Contributed by Kennedy L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.