"Hold 'em Joe" is one of the oldest songs that is considered a calypso. It appears to originate from a humorous Jamaican work song that was first described in a book compiled by Walter Jekyll, titled Jamaican Song and Story (1907). In 1926 Trinidadian vaudevillian Sam Manning recorded an instrumental version of the song for Columbia Records. The label of the record referred to it as a "Mentor," an early reference to the form of Jamaica music known as "mento."
In 1945 New York-based calypso singer Macbeth the Great made the classic
recording of "Hold 'em Joe," and in 1947 performed it in the
Calypso at Midnight concert at New York's Town Hall. The song subsequently
became very popular in both New York and Jamaica, where various ska and
reggae artists recorded it. It was also recorded by Blind Blake and Andre
Toussaint in the Bahamas.
"Hold 'em Joe" was one of the first calypsos recorded by Caribbean-American singer Harry Belafonte and was one of his early hits. Belafonte sang the song in a Broadway revue, titled John Murray Anderson's Almanac, in 1953-54. In the mid-1950s, the Charmer (later known as Louis Fahrakan) recorded "Hold 'em Joe" and, in the following years, various other popular singers made recordings. Jazz versions have been recorded by such artists as Sonny Rollins and Monty Alexander. Recently, the Golden Eagles, a Mardi Gras Indian group from New Orleans, issued a version of the song.
