'Here’s a bunch of organized words about being a young Black dude in the 1970s admiring Mr. Belafonte from afar through his art and then, as an adult in the 21st century, having the opportunity to admire him directly through his words via conversation.'
Full disclosure, this isn’t a recap or analysis of the incredible life and career of Mr. Belafonte. There are plenty of those online, and many are worth a, especially if you only know “The Banana Boat Song” as a sample from that Lil’ Wayne hit or the dinner scene in” Beetlejuice.” But, as usually happens when a beloved famous artist dies, most folks immediately think of how the deceased’s body of work, art, and presence in our reality has affected us.
But Belafonte always was my personal favorite and the coolest among the cats we elementary-school-aged Black men and women were told we should strive to emulate. And, it wasn’t just because he marched and mobilized with Dr. King and criticized inequality at home and abroad, as the social impact of those things was a bit beyond my young mind. No, it was because Harry Belafonte was a singer, I loved music, and he hosted and sang an episode of “The Muppet Show.
In that same episode from 1979, Belafonte, his good friend Jim Henson gave me and, from what the internet tells me, many other Gen-X kids of all ethnicities a memorable musical gift. Harry Belafonte and a group of African-inspired Muppets sang “Turn The World Around” from Belafonte’s 1977 album of the same name after he explained how he was inspired to write the song about understanding each other after talking to a storyteller during a trip to Guinea.
As the music reporter then at the Akron Beacon Journal, I got 22 minutes with the man whose songs I’d been singing via the Muppets and my mom’s vinyl copy of “Belafonte Returns To Carnegie Hall” and whose movies I’d been watching all my life.
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