Having his ‘Day-O’ on big stage

The ubiquitous Caribbean tune “Day-O” and its Brooklyn-born songwriter, Irving Burgie, are back in the spotlight — this time on Broadway in “Beetlejuice: The Musical.”

Burgie’s 1956 version of “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” has prime placement in the Alex Timbers-directed musical, which began its Broadway run Thursday at the Winter Garden Theatre, after several weeks of previews there and stints in Washington, D.C., last fall.

The new musical — based on director Tim Burton’s successful 1988 ghostthemed comedy — is the latest stop for “Day-O,” which is enjoying a 63-year-long eventfilled history that Burgie attributes to longevity and creativity.

“I’ll be 95 years old in July. A lot of people like that — that I’m still alive and kicking!” Burgie told the Daily News from his home this week.

Burgie (photo) planned to be on hand for the musical’s opening night to get a VIP visit with the cast after the show.

New music and lyrics such as “Dead Mom” and “Say My Name,” by Eddie Perfect of “King Kong” musical fame drive the dark comedy. But “Day-O” made the cut into the Broadway show as a memorable holdover from the film.

In the movie’s famed dinner party scene, Harry Belafonte’s voice is channeled through possessed party guests, who sing and gyrate to the catchy tune. But on the Winter Garden stage, the actors do the singing in a special rendition of the Caribbean ditty. “Day-O” is originally a traditional Jamaican folk song sung by dock workers. It was written by Burgie, under his Lord Burgess stage name, and the late William Attaway.

And Burgie says he’s in the music, and theater, business for the long haul. He’s looking to revive his 1963 Off-Broadway “Ballad for Bimshire” musical as movie. The songwriter — who penned national anthem for his mother’s Barbados homeland — has the screenplay is written and hopes Barbadosborn Rihanna might want a part of the production.