Forgotten Music -- The Tarriers

This post isn't really about just the Tarriers.  It just starts with them.  The group had two big hits in the middle '50s, "Cindy Oh Cindy," with Vince Martin, and "The Banana Boat Song," which doesn't sound exactly like the Belafonte hit from the same time.  (And even less like Stan Freberg's parody.) The Tarriers were, to begin with, Erik Darling, Alan Arkin, and Bob Carey.  Yes, Alan Arkin, who left the group to become an actor you might have heard of.  What you might not know is that he was also wrote SF during that time.  He was published in Galaxy, for example.  Darling also left.  He joined the Weavers, and later on the Rooftop Singers, who surprised everybody, including their record company by having a big hit.  He was replaced in the Tarriers by Eric Weissberg, whose work you might know.  Marshall Brickman joined the group, which then became a quartet, but you probably know Brickman, who eventually left to join the New Journeymen with John Phillips and Michelle Gilliam.  He was replaced in that group by Denny Doherty.  Brickman is better known for his screenplay work on movies like Sleeper and Annie Hall, while Doherty, Phillips, and Gilliam hooked up with Cass Elliot and formed a more successful group.  Elliot had sung with The Big 3, a fairly successful folk group.  When The Big 3 broke up, Elliot joined the Mugwumps, which also included Denny Doherty.  And also Zal Yanovsky, later part of this group.  I might mention here that the original Journeymen also included Scott McKenzie, who later had a big hit on his own.  I probably had a point when I started this, but if I did, I've forgotten it.  Oh, well.