"Matilda" (sometimes spelled Mathilda) is a calypso song. Some songwriting credits are given as Harry Thomas (rumoured to be a pseudonym combining

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

and his guitarist, Millard Thomas, but

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

simply lists Harry Thomas alias Harry Belafonte, the writer of "Hold 'Em Joe"); some credits are given as Norman Span.

History

"Matilda" is a song lamenting a woman who took a man for all he was worth. The song dates back to at least the 1930s, when calypso pioneer King Radio (the stage name of Norman Span) recorded the song.

first recorded it in 1953, which became a big hit. Harry Belafonte's first recording of the song was on April 27, 1953 and was released as a single. He re-recorded "Matilda" for his second

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

LP, '' Belafonte'', released in 1955. The oft-repeated phrase in his rendition of the song is like the following, emphasizing the syllables of the subject's name as shown: :''Hey! Ma-til-da; Ma-til-da; Ma-til-da, she take me money and run a-

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

.'' Belafonte often performed the song in concert, and he would encourage the audience to sing that line. An example is heard on his 1959 live album '' Belafonte at Carnegie Hall'', where the total playing time for "Matilda" is nearly 12 minutes.

Allan Sherman recording

Allan Sherman recorded a variation of the song in his first album, 1962's '' My Son, the Folk Singer'', and put a Jewish-sounding spin on it, including asking portions of his audience (such as "Members of Hadassah") to sing along: :''Oy! My Zel-da; My Zel-da; My Zel-da, she took the money and ran with the tailor.'' Sherman was later sued by the estate of the song's composer for not obtaining permission to perform it, because "Matilda" was protected by copyright law. Sherman paid a substantial penalty for this, as recounted in his book, ''A Gift of Laughter''.

Other recordings

* Jimmy Soul recorded a version in 1962 as "Twistin' Matilda (And the Channel)", which changed the lyrics of the verses as well as the chorus to: "She took the money and ran off to Las Vegas." The song hit number 22 on the ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

charts. *

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psyc ...

performed a cover of this song six times from 1994 to 1995. *In Germany, the song was made popular by singer

Udo Jürgens Jürgen Udo Bockelmann (30 September 1934 – 21 December 2014), generally known as Udo Jürgens, was an Austrian composer and singer of popular music whose career spanned over 50 years. He won the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria, ...

, who recorded it in 1968.

References

{{Authority control 1953 singles Calypso songs Harry Belafonte songs