Boney M. – Mary’s Boy Child

The “Oh My Lord” Section Was Added Spontaneously

Released on November twenty-seventh, 1978, as a medley combining Harry Belafonte’s 1956 Christmas standard with a new composition, Boney M.’s “Mary’s Boy Child – Oh My Lord” topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and became Christmas number one, selling one point eight nine million units to rank as the second biggest-selling single in the group’s history after “Rivers of Babylon.” The track spent eight weeks on the UK chart, reached number eighty-five in the United States, and became one of Britain’s all-time best-selling singles. What most fans don’t know is that the entire “Oh My Lord” section happened spontaneously during recording when singer Marcia Barrett started improvising at the end and the band went with it, leaving it in because it worked. When seventy-eight-year-old songwriter Jester Hairston discovered how well the Boney M version performed, he responded with genuine joy, saying God bless my soul, that’s tremendous for an old fogey like me.

The single debuted on the UK chart in late November and rocketed to number one on December ninth, where it remained for four consecutive weeks through the Christmas period and into January. It spent eight weeks total on the chart and became the Christmas number one for 1978, continuing Boney M’s extraordinary British dominance. The track sold one point eight nine million copies in the UK alone by November 2015, making it one of the territory’s all-time biggest sellers. In Germany, it premiered on November second during the television show Starparade on ZDF before its commercial release. The United States proved resistant, with the single stalling at number eighty-five, marking Boney M’s final American chart appearance after modest success with “Rivers of Babylon” earlier that year. The track reached number eighty-nine on the Holiday 100 chart during its 2017 resurgence. After Christmas, Hansa Records flipped the single and released “Dancing in the Streets” as the A-side, though that Frank Farian solo performance fared even worse commercially.

Jester Hairston wrote the original “Mary’s Boy Child” in the nineteen-forties after a friend asked him to compose something for a birthday party. Hairston created a calypso rhythm because the partygoers would be mainly West Indians, originally titling it “He Pone and Chocolate Tea” after a type of corn bread. Years later, Walter Schumann asked Hairston to write a Christmas song for his Hollywood Choir, and Hairston remembered the calypso rhythm, crafting new religious lyrics. Harry Belafonte heard the choir’s performance and secured permission to record it, scoring a massive hit in 1956. Producer Frank Farian recognized the song’s enduring appeal twenty-two years later and built a medley around it. Marcia Barrett told interviewers the group always thought of themselves as put together by a spiritual force and enjoyed recording spiritual material. During the session, Barrett spontaneously added improvisations at the song’s conclusion that became the “Oh My Lord” section, and everyone agreed it elevated the recording. Farian incorporated her additions as a separate composition credit, transforming a straightforward cover into something uniquely Boney M.

The group recorded the track during 1978 sessions with Frank Farian producing at various German studios. As with all Boney M recordings, the vocal lineup consisted exclusively of Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett singing female parts while Farian himself provided all male vocals, though Bobby Farrell received frontman credit and Maizie Williams appeared as a dancer. This arrangement had been publicly confirmed in 1978 when Farian admitted to German teen magazine Bravo that Farrell never sang on their records and Williams’ voice wasn’t suited for their music. Unlike the later Milli Vanilli scandal that destroyed careers, disco audiences in the late seventies accepted this common practice without outrage. The production featured layered vocals, disco-influenced arrangements, and that distinctive Boney M sound that blended Caribbean rhythms with European production values. The recording appeared as a five-minute-ten-second edit on their 1981 Christmas Album, with the third verse removed and a shortened “Oh My Lord” section. Farian’s orchestration transformed Hairston’s calypso carol into something that dominated dance floors and living rooms simultaneously.

The track appeared on Boney M’s 1981 Christmas Album alongside other holiday standards and became their defining seasonal offering. The album capitalized on the single’s massive success two years earlier and sold respectably throughout Europe. The group’s commercial peak had passed by then, with their fifth album Boonoonoonoos delayed through 1981 amid increasing tensions between Farrell and Farian. When that album finally emerged, Farrell departed due to conflicts with the producer, replaced by Reggie Tsiboe. The Christmas single represented the last gasp of Boney M’s imperial phase in Britain, where they’d dominated charts since 1976 with “Daddy Cool.” Their run of consecutive top ten hits had ended with “Gotta Go Home” peaking at twelve and “I’m Born Again” stalling at thirty-five. By 1980’s greatest hits compilation, they were consolidating rather than innovating. The single’s enduring popularity created a curious situation where Boney M became synonymous with Christmas in Britain despite being a German-based disco group fronted by performers who didn’t actually sing on their records.

The song has been remixed and reissued numerous times, including a 1988 version paired with “Rivers of Babylon” to launch the group’s reunion after their 1986 split. That remix sold well as an album but failed to chart as a single. A 1992 Christmas Mega Mix featured yet another remix of the track for a new edition of their Christmas compilation. These constant repackagings demonstrated both the song’s commercial longevity and the industry’s willingness to exploit nostalgia. Liz Mitchell told reporters in 2018 she was in the right place at the right time, a generous assessment of a career spent singing other people’s material under someone else’s complete control. The track appeared in numerous Christmas compilation albums and remained a British holiday radio staple decades after Boney M ceased functioning as a cohesive unit. Frank Farian died in January 2024 at age eighty-two, his legacy forever split between creating some of disco’s biggest hits and perpetrating music’s most infamous lip-syncing scandals with both Boney M and Milli Vanilli.

“Mary’s Boy Child – Oh My Lord” endures as one of Britain’s most beloved Christmas standards despite representing everything complicated about manufactured pop. Barrett’s reflection that the “Oh My Lord” section happened spontaneously and they left it in because it worked captures the accidental magic that sometimes occurs even in calculated commercial endeavors. Hairston’s gracious response at seventy-eight years old, blessing the success of a version he never could have imagined, demonstrates the songwriter’s generosity toward interpretations that honor the original spirit. The fact that most people singing along at Christmas never realized Bobby Farrell wasn’t actually singing proves that great hooks transcend authenticity concerns, and that disco’s greatest sin wasn’t fakery but getting caught. Five decades later, that calypso rhythm and Barrett’s spontaneous additions still evoke British Christmas, testament to how a nineteen-forties birthday party song became an all-time holiday standard through the voice of a German producer pretending to be a Caribbean disco group.