Mary's Boy Child
Mary's Boy Child is a multi- covered Christmas song composed by Jester Joseph Hairston in 1956 , which was the only one in two versions to become a million seller . The first successful version is by Harry Belafonte (1956), the second by Boney M. (1978).
History of origin
Jester Joseph Hairston (* 1901, † 2000) was a versatile Afro-American artist who worked as a composer, choir director, arranger and film actor. Hairston studied music at the Juilliard School . From 1936 he was involved in cinema films, formed his first own choir in 1943, from August 1949 he acted as choir director, and from 1951 he took on roles on television.
Hairston wrote more than 300 spirituals, including Mary's Boy Child .
original
Mary's Boy Child was not Hairston's first composition. The original text was partly written in a black dialect, it was convincing through its simplicity in the narration of the birth of Jesus Christ, including how it got into the manger. The specialist literature mainly assumes that the original of the song is Harry Belafonte. The first studio recording of the Christmas carol, however, came from Mahalia Jackson , whose single was titled Mary's Little Boy Child in October 1954. The gospel recording was not released until December 1956 as Columbia # 40777. Mahalia Jackson was at the height of her popularity at the time, but this version of the Christmas carol still missed the hit parades. For her LP Mahalia Sings Songs of Christmas she recorded the title again on June 14, 1956, which is still earlier than the well-known first cover version.
First hit
The first cover version came from " Calypso King" Harry Belafonte. The religious content was underlaid with a calypso rhythm and produced by Henri René and Dennis Farnon. It was planned to record the song for the Belafonte LP An Evening With Belafonte . The Radio Recorders recording studio in Hollywood was booked for the entire LP between July 20 and 26, 1956. Harry Belafonte recorded Mary's Boy Child on July 20, 1956, the first day of recording, as the first song. His orchestral accompaniment is directed by William Lorin, but all recordings remained in the archive until the month of publication in December 1956. The single released in the USA in December 1956 only reached number 12 in the pop charts.
Within just eight weeks of its publication date in October 1957, sales of the single in Great Britain exceeded the million mark, with a total of 1.175 million copies being sold. She reached first rank on November 22, 1957 and stayed there for seven weeks; Belafonte was the first black male with a number one in Great Britain. Two more seasonal re-releases by Belafontes subsequently made it into the charts, namely in 1958 (# 10) and 1959 (# 30). At the same time, the title was the first single that sold over a million copies exclusively in the UK.
More cover versions
According to Belafonte's version, a number of other versions of the song appeared around Christmas time, but none of them made it to the charts. At ASCAP 56 cover versions are listed, Hairston has had 87 mostly gospel-oriented compositions registered with ASCAP copyright. Lys Assia was the first to sing the German version in December 1958 ... because it is Christmas time with a text by Heinz Korn , Margot Eskens followed with the recording date June 23, 1963; both missed the German hit parade . The Danish couple Nina & Frederick brought out the title in 1958 as part of an EP with 4 Christmas carols, in December 1959 the song was decoupled from it for a single in Great Britain, which went up to number 26 in the charts. In 1995 a cover version of Free the Spirit reached position 87 on the UK charts.
Boney M.
Boney M. had just delivered the hit Rasputin on August 28, 1978 when their version of Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord was released on November 27, 1978. Only Liz Mitchell sings of the group, recorded in the Union Studios in Munich. After publication, over 220,000 copies went over the counter in Great Britain in one day, after three weeks a million copies had been delivered there, and a total of 1.9 million singles were sold. In Germany sales rose to one million after three weeks. 17 press shops in four countries tried to cope with the demand. With over three million copies worldwide, Mary's Boy Child was the group's second biggest hit. 1978 was the most successful year in the history of Boney M. In the United Kingdom, the single reached number one on December 9, 1978 and remained there as the Christmas number one hit for four weeks, in Germany on January 8, 1979 for one week at the top. In Germany, Mary's Boy Child - Oh My Lord was the first Christmas carol to reach the top of the official single charts . Because of the medley addition Oh My Lord , Fred Jay and producer Frank Farian are also mentioned as co-authors.
Chart placements
Version by Harry Belafonte
| year | Chartpl. | |
|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
|
| 1956/57 | - | 15 (5 weeks) |
| 1957/58 |
1 (12 weeks) |
- |
| 1958/59 | 10 (6 weeks) |
- |
| 1959/60 | 30 (1 week) |
- |
| All in all |
1 (19 weeks) |
15 (5 weeks) |
Version by Boney M.
| year | Chart placements | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|
| 1978/79 |
1 (13 weeks) |
3 (3 months) |
1 (9 weeks) |
1 (8 weeks) |
85 (5 weeks) |
| 1988/89 | - | - | - | 52 (3 weeks) |
- |
| 2007/08 | - | - | - | 47 (3 weeks) |
- |
| 2008/09 | - | - | 98 (1 week) |
- | - |
| 2014/15 | - | - | - | 79 (1 week) |
- |
| 2015/16 | - | - | - | 74 (1 week) |
- |
| 2016/17 | - | - | - | 50 (4 weeks) |
- |
| 2017/18 | - | - | - | 29 (4 weeks) |
- |
| 2018/19 | - | - | - | 26 (4 weeks) |
- |
| 2019/20 | 100 (1 week) |
- | - | 47 (2 weeks) |
- |
| All in all |
1 (14 weeks) |
3 (3 months) |
1 (10 weeks) |
1 (30 weeks) |
85 (5 weeks) |
Individual evidence
- ↑ The film music composer Dimitri Tiomkin brought Hairston in as conductor for the choir in the film Lost Horizon , which was released in cinemas in the USA on March 2, 1937
- ↑ Discography by Mahalia Jackson
- ↑ Harry Belafonte's discography
- ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records. 1985, p. 104
- ↑ Tim Rice , Joe Rice, Paul Gambaccini : The Guinness Book of Number One Hits. 1988, p. 37.
- ↑ ASCAP entry for Jester Hairston
- ↑ http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4793/free-the-spirit/
- ↑ The UK's Official Chart 'millionaires' revealed. Official Charts Company, September 19, 2017, accessed July 29, 2019 .
- ^ Pseudonym for the Viennese lyricist Dr. Friedrich Alex Jacobson (1913–1988), who wrote 28 lyrics for Boney M.
- ↑ Chart sources Harry Belafonte: UK US
- ↑ Chart sources: DE [AT] CH UK US