Mary's Little Boy Child - Jester Hairston

I've written a version of this song by the late, great Afr.-Amer. spiritual composer & arranger, Jester Hairston. I'm posting two diff. versions, because I sort of have a dilemma:

Mr. Hairston identified this song as a Calypso, although most recordings (Andy Williams, even Harry Belafonte) don't sound very "island". I'm using the Latin-Cuba: Son Montuno 3-2 rhythm style to create more of a Calypso sound.

But - in Version 1 below, I'm adding some interludes at the end of the Verse & the Refrain that end up making the phrases add up to an odd number of measures - which turns the 3-2 clave around to make it a 2-3. To me, this makes the rhythmic feel sound weird, kind of klunky.

Version 2 fixes this problem by adding (or taking away) measures in the interludes to keep the lengths of the phrases even #'s of measures, thereby keeping the integrity of the 3-2 clave. And it sounds better to me, it's just - I didn't necessarily want the phrases of the song to go like that.

Any opinions about this are welcome - I'm no expert by any means in Cuban son music, so tell me what you think, & use & enjoy this song if you like it.

Latin-Cuba: Son Montuno 3-2
@ 108 bpm
Rhodes 2 Tremolo
Nylon Guitar
Acoustic Bass


Mary's Little Boy Child vrs- 1 - Jester Hairston

Mary's Little Boy Child vrs- 2 - Jester Hairston