[1] The calypso of the title refers to its West Indian flavour, and the words have featured on a set of Caribbean postage stamps.
However, both words and music were written by an Englishman, Michael Perry, while he was a student at Oak Hill Theological College in 1964.
Perry became one of the UK's leading contemporary hymn writers,[2] but the Calypso Carol remained his most popular work.
[1] In 1983, the Caribbean island of Nevis featured the chorus of "Calypso Carol" on a miniature sheet of its 1983 Christmas stamps, designed by Jennifer Toombs.
[4] The neighbouring island of St Kitts issued a complementary sheet with the slightly older song "Mary's Boy Child".