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The song is mentioned in one of the earlier James Bond books. Graywriter ( talk) 04:29, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
As if to answer him, the girl made a throwaway gesture of the right hand and scattered a dozen shells on the sand beside her. They were violet pink and seemed to Bond to be the same as he had noticed on the beach. The girl looked down into her left hand and began to whistle softly to herself. There was a happy note of triumph in the whistle. She was whistling ‘Marion’, a plaintive little calypso that has now been cleaned up and made famous outside Jamaica. It had always been one of Bond’s favourites. It went: All day, all night, Marion, Sittin’ by the seaside siftin’ sand … The girl broke off to stretch her arms out in a deep yawn. Bond smiled to himself. He wetted his lips and took up the refrain: ‘The water from her eyes could sail a boat, The hair on her head could tie a goat …’
At least one of the versions credited to Harry Belafonte (Belafonte By Request), in reference 3, is a different song entirely, also named Marianne. What's a more reliable sort of reference checking than YouTubes for fixing it? 199.200.31.194 ( talk) 22:57, 7 November 2018 (UTC)
§ History says
1: In the track listings of Harry Belafonte's albums ( Belafonte Concert in Japan, Belafonte by Request , Belafonte...Live! ) the song is credited to William Eaton. And the title of this article credits Terry Gilkyson. Can we please settle on one name, and that the right one?
2: Also:
And that is...? It's not obvious to me. Prostitute? An encyclopedia is no place to be mealy-mouthed.
Please {{ ping }} me to discuss.
-- Thnidu ( talk) 03:55, 27 July 2017 (UTC)
Literally "sifting sand", looking for coins, watches, and other valuables lost by beachgoers. It's a poor person's occupation. 199.200.31.194 ( talk) 22:54, 7 November 2018 (UTC)
I have replaced the link to a YouTube TV performance by the Hoosier Hotshots (wildly inappropriate IMO!) with links to the original 1945 recording by Roaring Lion (de Leon), and the highly popular Terry Gilkyson recording (1957) which gives the article its title. There is a slightly later recording by 'The Lion' (de Leon) on UK Parlophone, variously dated to 1946 or 1951, available on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGjqNGJYaPw. The quality is much better than the earlier recording, but the one I selected appears to be the earliest known recording; it also has some contemporary pictures. There is another early recording by 'Sir Lancelot' at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUXcjU-hHU that sounds earlier to my ears; I will do more digging, but would appreciate help from 78 record buffs & calypso musicologists; I suspect the folk-song is older even than the Lion's version, and he may have just been the first compiler & popularizer, as happened with many popular calypsos. -- D Anthony Patriarche ( talk) 02:04, 11 August 2019 (UTC)
...reference only a page in a book, rather that a shot of the actual chart. AMCKen ( talk) 08:12, 3 March 2024 (UTC)