''Swing Dat Hammer'' is an album by

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 ...

, released by

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 ...

(LPM/LSP-2194) in 1960. It is a collection of chain gang

work songs A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a form of work, either one sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or one linked to a task that may be a connected narrative, description, or protest song. An example is " I ...

. The last cut is a collection of workmen conversations. At the Grammy Awards of 1961 ''Swing Dat Hammer'' won the

Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording The Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording was awarded from 1960 to 1986. During this time the award had several minor name changes: *From 1960 to 1961 the award was known as Best Performance - Folk *From 1962 to 1967 it was awa ...

Track listing

#"Look Over Yonder" – 2:51 #" Bald Headed Woman" – 3:30 #"Grizzly Bear" – 3:27 #"Diamond Joe" (Belafonte) – 3:36 #"Here Rattler Here" – 3:57 #"Another Man Done Gone" ( Vera Hall,

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...

, John Lomax, Ruby Pickens Tartt) – 2:21 #"Swing Dat Hammer " – 4:38 #"Go Down Old Hannah" – 3:47 #"Rocks and Gravel" – 4:10 #"Talkin' an' Signifyin' " – 5:08

Personnel

*Harry Belafonte – vocals * The Belafonte Folk Singers – vocals *Millard Thomas – guitar * Robert De Cormier – conductor

Production notes

*Produced by Bob Bollard *Engineered by Bob Simpson

References

{{Authority control 1960 albums Harry Belafonte albums RCA Victor albums Albums conducted by Robert De Cormier