Celebrity Jukebox #85: Harry Belafonte

Certain stars just appear effortlessly cool. Harry Belafonte was one of them. Actor, singer and close friend and confidant of Martin Luther King, Harry was a legend. 

Let's see how he's remembered in the jukebox, starting with Tony Bennett, making up his own lyrics to a classic...

And if I never had a cent

I'd be rich as Harry Belafonte

With Barry Goldwater at my feet

On the sunny side of the street

Goldwater was a conservative Republican whom, I imagine, Harry had little time for.

Tony Bennett - Sunny Side of the Street

Quite a lot of rappers name-drop Harry, understandably given his prominent civil rights activism over the years. Here's Black Thought from The Roots with Danger Mouse...

Ayo, don't even worry 'bout it, my legendary stylin'

Between Harry Belafonte and Harry Allen

Danger Mouse & Black Thought -  Close To Famous

And here's some proper Old Skool, more my vintage...

If you compare the Big Daddy to a Caddy

I'd be an Allante, suave as Belafonte

Interplanetary and extraordinary

Big Daddy Kane - Git Bizzy

Whether rap or country, Harry was important to them all...

Raindrops thumping on my white-walled Chrysler

I'm keeping rhythm with the window wipers

Farmland's drinking every drop that falls

Lightning dancing to the fiddler's call

Black baby squeeze a hot dog bun

Grandpa's got wrinkles from too much sun

Harry Belafonte and the Dixie Dregs

Everybody's drinking from the same cold kegs

Michael Martin Murphey - Pilgrims on the Way (Matthew's Song)

Meanwhile, Aussie rockers The Church place Harry in very fine company...

Brian Wilson and William Tell
We welcome you
Harry Belafonte and Alexander Bell
We welcome you
Archangel Gabriel and Richard Hell
We welcome
And Tom Miller

The Church - Welcome

...while Jonathan Richman supported many of the same causes.

So join Nelson Mandela

And Susan Sarandon

Join Harry Belafonte as the list goes on and on

And protest with a letter, or maybe a phone call

For there on death row, stands Abu Jamal

Jonathan Richman - Abu Jamal

It seems like everyone wants to be as cool as Harry. Even the Fratellis...

Well, I'm gonna be imperious

I'm gonna be the next Harry Belafonte!

The Fratellis - Halloween Blues

Today belong to Joe Strummer though, who mentions Harry in not one, but two, of his tunes. Let's face it, if Joe Strummer namedrops you twice, you must be a legend.

Somebody's got to draw a line somewhere,
And it might as well be Harry Belafonte

Joe Strummer - Dizzy's Goatee

Because the noise inspectors with the sound detectors 

Were coming on down the beach 

And the counselors wanna pounce on us

There we go disturbing the peace 

And the Cornish sun had only just begun

To sink into the western sea 

So to keep it low so the cops don't know

I spun my Harry Belafonte 

Celebrity Jukebox #25: Paul Robeson

When I started looking up famous actors and actresses for this feature, I was shocked by just how few of them were people of colour. It's only in the last couple of years that diverse on-screen representation has really caught on, to the point that we're now starting to hear white male actors whinging they can't get the parts anymore. Here's the World's Smallest Violin playing just for them.

Singer, actor, professional footballer and game-changing political activist Paul Robeson is held up by many as the first true African American superstar, paving the way for the likes of Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. Of course, he paid the price for being a pioneer when the FBI blacklisted him as a subversive during the McCarthy era. 

Woody Guthrie was naturally an admirer of Robeson's, although his song wasn't recorded until Billy Bragg and Wilco took charge of his archive in the 90s...

Billy Bragg & Wilco - My Thirty Thousand

Black 47 were a controversial white American Celtic rock band who counted among their roster former Dexys saxophonist Geoff Blythe. This was their own tribute to Robeson...

Black 47 - Paul Robeson (Born to be Free)

I was surprised not to find loads of black stars name-dropping Robeson (Sidney & Denzel are far more frequently rapped about). Here's a couple of notable exceptions...

Black Thought - Soundtrack to Confusion (Streams Of Thought Vol. 2)

I'm colder than Paul Robeson leadin' Othello

I'm older than the barcode, it ain't easy to tell though

(Points for that rhyme.)

And this, from the Wu Tang founder, which is bang up to date...

RZA - Under The Sun

Sword swing, like that old king from Camelot

Voice like Paul Robeson

Wit' a Mayweather robe on

(Not as many points for that rhyme.)

Of course, it was inevitable that Gil Scott-Heron would acknowledge Robeson...

Gil Scott-Heron - Bicentennial Blues

The blues grew up in Satchmo’s horn, 

On Duke’s piano and Langston’s poetry, 

On Robeson’s baritone

...and only slightly less so that he'd be a hero of the Manics, considering both his long career of political activism, spurred on by his support of Welsh miners in the 1930s. Their tribute samples Robeson's spoken word performance of Freedom Train from that time. Powerful stuff.