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GRACE NOTES IN CONTEXT MAMA, LOOK A BOO BOO: WHEN CALYPSO WENT TO AMERICA WHO GOT THE CREDIT — AND WHO GOT THE MONEY? A Grace Notes reflection on Lord Melody, Harry Belafonte, Calypso, memory, ownership and the journey of a Trinidad song onto the American stage. VIDEO: Harry Belafonte and Danny Kaye perform “Mama Look A Boo Boo” on The Danny Kaye Show . The available video identifies the television performance as September 15, 1965. Belafonte's hit recording of the song dates to 1957. I was born in Trinidad in 1956, so I will leave the definitive history of Lord Melody, Diego Martin, Blue Basin and all the stories that have travelled through our Trinbago oral tradition to the historians and cultural archivists who can cement the truths. But I know what I remember. I remember “Mama Look a Boo Boo.” I remember it as part of the sound of growing up on a small Caribbean island, hearing Calypso played on our radio in its original, raw,...
