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TARRIERS

“THE BANANA BOAT SONG”

(Alan Arkin, Bob Carey, Erik Darling)

Glory 249

No. 4    February 9, 1957

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When Eric Darlin was growing up in Canandaigua, New York, Burl lves was his hero.  It seemed the

greatest way to make money.  Oh, to be Burl and roam the countryside, free and independent of all

concerns.  To appear before people and to sing and strum truth.  Eric found a loose guitar, learned the

chords and listened intently to Josh White, Pete Seeger and Brownie McGee.  In 1953 Eric joined a group

of 19 singers, dancers and actors that had been orgainized by Mary Hunter for New York’s TheatreGuild.

For a half a year Eric performed one-nighters with the unit.  Next, with buddies Alan Arkin, BobCarey,

Eric formed his own unit of traveling sooth-saying performers, the Tarriers.

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Dating at the least to 1953 and Perry Como’s hit “Pa-paya Mama,” the record industry had been playing

footsie with Caribbean sounds.   The wide spread hope in the industry had been that that unpredictable

demon brew rock’n’roll could be snuffed out if only another fad–such as calypso–would come along.   As

the “next big thing” calypso would be a harmless, parent-approved and marketable substitution for this

lurking evil rock’n’roll.

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For a moment this insidious wish seemed to be materializing.   Burl lves, Harry Belafonte, the Fontane

Sisters, Terry Gilkson, Steve Lawrence–all charted and with Tin Pan Alley calypso type tunes.  Contribut-

ing their own addition to the blooming genre was the Tarriers’ “Banana Boat Song” and the groups back-

up work on VINCE MARTIN’s “Cindy, Oh Cindy.”  Reportedly, the musicians used on both releases were

identical, only the names were changed to sell more simultaneous records.  Martin and the Tarriers,

however, never again charted.   And the “Calypso Explosion” petered as rapidly as it had puffed up.

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Bob Carey remained with the group, recording with them well into the folk movements mammoth fruition

in the 1960s and the Tarriers demise in 1964.   Eric Darlin stayed with the Tarriers for two years and then

toured and recorded with the legendary Weavers.   In 1963, Eric formed the Rooftop Singers with Bill

Svanoe and the late one-time jazz singer Lynne Taylor.   From the mid ’70s on, Eric has concentrated on

teaching music students.   Alan Arkin, born March 26, 1934 in New York City, left the Tarriers in the late

50s to pursue his successful career on Broadway and in the movies.  Among his many video appearances

Al has played the part of Sigmund Freud in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and as a lovable bumbling luster

in Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers and has twice been nominated for an Oscar.