From Wikipedia:
The song was originally a Jamaican folk song. Its popular version was adapted by Barbadian Irving Burgie. It was thought to be sung by Jamaican banana workers, with a repeated melody and refrain (call and response), with each set lyric there would be a response from the workers but with many different sets of lyrics, some possibly improvised on the spot. The first recorded version was done by Trinidadian singer Edric Connor and his band “Edric Connor and the Caribbeans” in 1952, on the album Songs From Jamaica; the song was called “Day Dah Light”. Belafonte based his version on a 1954 recording by Jamaican folk singer Louise Bennett. In 1955, singer/songwriters Irving Burgie and William Attaway wrote a version of the lyrics for the Colgate Comedy Hour in which the song was performed by Harry Belafonte. This is the version that is by far the best known to listeners today, as it reached number five on the Billboard charts in 1957 and later became Belafonte’s signature song. Side two of Harry Belafonte’s 1956 Calypso album opens with “Star O”, a song referring to the day shift ending with the first star seen in the sky. Also in 1956, folk singer Bob Gibson, who had travelled to Jamaica and heard the song, taught his version of it to the folk band The Tarriers. They recorded a version of that song that mixed in the chorus of another Jamaican folk song, “Hill and Gully Rider”, and released it, spawning what became their biggest hit. It outdid Belafonte’s original on the pop charts, reaching number four.

Day-o, day-ay-ay-o
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Day-o, day-ay-ay-o
Daylight come and me wan’ go home

Work all night on a drink of rum
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Stack banana till de morning come
Daylight come and me wan’ go home

Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana
Daylight come and me wan’ go home

Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
Daylight come and me wan’ go home

Day, me say day-ay-ay-o
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day
Daylight come and me wan’ go home

Beautiful bunch of ripe banana
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Hide the deadly black tarantula
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Day, me say day-ay-ay-o
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day
Daylight come and me wan’ go home

Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Day-o, day-ay-ay-o
Daylight come and me wan’ go home
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day….ay-ay-o
Daylight come and me wan’ go home