"Ol' Man River" is a show tune from the 1927

musical Musical is the adjective of music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact def ...

'' Show Boat'' with music by

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...

and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The song contrasts the struggles and hardships of African Americans with the endless, uncaring flow of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

. It is sung from the point of view of a black

stevedore A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the num ...

on a showboat,"Lesson: Ol’ Man River" (school lesson for Mississippi River), Michael E. Marrapodi, New Covenant Christian School, Ashland, Massachusetts, 2006, webpage
MassGeo-River
: shows phrase "feared of dyin' " (rather than "skeered" of dying) as sung in earlier recordings. and is the most famous song from the show. The song is meant to be performed in a slow tempo; it is sung complete once in the musical's lengthy first scene by the stevedore "Joe" who travels with the boat, and, in the stage version, is heard four more times in brief reprises. Joe serves as a sort of musical one-man

Greek chorus A Greek chorus, or simply chorus ( grc-gre, χορός, chorós), in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collect ...

, and the song, when reprised, comments on the action, as if saying, "This has happened, but the river keeps rolling on anyway." The song is notable for several aspects: the lyrical pentatonic-scale melody, the subjects of toil and social class, metaphor to the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

, and as a

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

solo (rare in musicals, solos for baritones or

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors i ...

s being more common). Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra had a hit recording of the song in early 1928, in a much faster tempo than Kern and Hammerstein intended, featuring

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

on vocals and

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical a ...

on cornet. A second version was recorded on March 1, with Paul Whiteman and his Concert Orchestra and

bass singer A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E b ...

Paul Robeson on vocals, sung in a dance tempo. The latter was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

in 2006, and a 1936 rendition by Robeson also finished No. 24 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs 2004 survey of top tunes in American cinema.

Early versions

The song was first performed in the original stage production of ''Show Boat'' on December 27, 1927, by Jules Bledsoe, who also sang it in the part-talkie 1929 film, although that film version had little to do with the stage musical. Bledsoe also recorded the song years later. However, the most famous rendition of it, one that is still noted today, was sung by Paul Robeson in

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Frankenstein'' (1931), '' The Old ...

's classic 1936 film version of ''Show Boat''. The role of Joe in the musical was originally written with Robeson in mind, but Robeson declined the role in the 1927 production due to scheduling conflict. Robeson, however, accepted the role for its 1928 London production and 1932 Broadway revival. He also performed the song three times in the show instead of the one originally written. The first known recording of the song was by "Kenn" Sisson and His Orchestra, recorded on December 27, 1927, with

Irving Kaufman Irving Robert Kaufman (June 24, 1910 – February 1, 1992) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern Dist ...

on vocals. Robeson recorded the song with Paul Whiteman and his Concert Orchestra in 1928, and multiple times in the 1930s.

Turning upbeat-sounding melody into tragic one

From the show's opening number "Cotton Blossom", the notes in the phrase "Cotton Blossom, Cotton Blossom" are the same notes as those in the phrase "Ol' Man River, dat Ol' Man River," but inverted. However, "Cotton Blossom" was written first, and "Ol' Man River" was written only after Kern and Hammerstein realized they needed a song to end the first scene in the show. Hammerstein decided to use the idea of the Mississippi River as a basis for the song and told Kern to use the melody that the

s sang in "Cotton Blossom" but invert some of it, and slow down the tempo. This inversion gave "Ol' Man River" a tragic quality.

Robeson's alterations to song lyrics

Beginning about 1938 to the end of his career, Paul Robeson changed a few of the lyrics of "Ol' Man River" when singing it at recitals but never in actual stage performances of ''Show Boat'' and not in the 1936 film version. (In addition to the 1928 and 1932 stage productions as well as the 1936 film version, he appeared in a

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stage revival in 1940.) Except for the change of the word "niggers" to "darkies", the lyrics of the song as Robeson performed it in the 1936 film version of the show remain exactly as Oscar Hammerstein II originally wrote them in 1927. However, after 1938, Robeson would record the song only with the lyrics that he had used in his post-1936 concert recitals. In the 1978 one-man play ''Paul Robeson'', by Phillip Hayes Dean, there is a (perhaps fictitious) reference to the change in the lyrics - an unseen interviewer asks Robeson (played by James Earl Jones) about the original lyrics, and he responds "No, I don't sing it that way anymore". In the 1951 film version of ''Show Boat'', as well as the 1962 studio recording and the 1966

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revival of the show, William Warfield sang only the introductory verse and the lyrics to the main section of the song, and omitted what could be considered a controversial section, in contrast to both Jules Bledsoe (who sang it in the prologue to the 1929 film version) and Robeson (who sang the whole song in the 1936 film). The section that Warfield omitted begins: ::''Niggers all work on de Mississippi,'' ::''Niggers all work while de white folks play''... In the 1936 film, the word "niggers" was changed to "darkies". Ever since the 1946 revival, the term has been changed to "colored folks", although there have been revivals that change the lines to ''Here we all work on de Mississippi,/ Here we all work while de white folks play''. Al Jolson sang a version starting with "lots of folks work on the Mississippi." Also, the phrase "feared of dyin' " (rather than "skeered of dyin' ") has been sung in some recordings, notably Lawrence Tibbett's 1930s version, Gordon MacRae's 1950s version (first heard on '' The Railroad Hour''), and Frank Sinatra's 1946 performance, first heard in the film '' Till the Clouds Roll By''. Robeson's own 1938 changes in the lyrics of the song are as follows: * Instead of "Dere's an ol' man called de Mississippi, / Dat's de ol' man that I'd like to be...", Robeson sang "There's an ol' man called the Mississippi, / That's the ol' man I don't like to be"..." * Instead of "Tote that barge! / Lift that bale! / Git a little drunk, / An' you land in jail...", Robeson sang "Tote that barge and lift dat bale!/ You show a little grit / And you lands in jail.." * Instead of "Ah gits weary / An' sick of tryin'; / Ah'm tired of livin' / An skeered of dyin', / But Ol' Man River, / He jes' keeps rolling along!", Robeson sang "But I keeps laffin'/ Instead of cryin' / I must keep fightin'; / Until I'm dyin', / And Ol' Man River, / He'll just keep rollin' along!" In Scene 7 of Act II of the show, Joe does sing this verse, but rather than singing "I must keep fightin' until I'm dyin", sings "I must keep livin' until I'm dyin,/ But Ol' Man River,/ He jes' keeps rollin' along!" According to the 1988 EMI album of ''Show Boat'', these are Hammerstein's authentic lyrics for this reprise. In recitals and in several of his many recordings of the song, Robeson also omitted the controversial section "Niggers all work on de Mississippi...", etc., with its middle portion "Don't look up/ An' don't look down/ You don't dast make / De white boss frown", etc., as well as its concluding "Lemme go ' way from de Mississippi/ Lemme go ' way from de white man boss, etc." . However, Robeson did include a portion of these lyrics in the 1932 4-record 78 rpm album of selections from ''Show Boat''. In the song's recording history, Robeson's changes to the lyrics were mostly sung by himself, but also used by Leon and Eric Bibb in their 2006 tribute album ''Praising Peace: A Tribute to Paul Robeson'', and a clip exists of William Warfield singing the song with the changes that Robeson incorporated into it. The Temptations changed any references to the "white man boss" to "rich man boss", as well as "Here we all work while the white boys play" to "Here we all work while the rich boys play". In 1988, EMI/

Angel Records Angel Records was a record label founded by EMI in 1953. It specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score. and one Peter Sellers comedy disc. The famous Recording Angel trademark was used by the Gramopho ...

issued a 3-CD set of the complete score of ''Show Boat'', starring

Frederica Von Stade Frederica von Stade OAL (born June 1, 1945) is a semi-retired American opera singer. Since her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1970, she has performed in operas, musicals, concerts and recitals in venues throughout the world, including La Scala, ...

, Jerry Hadley, Teresa Stratas, and Bruce Hubbard, conducted by John McGlinn. On this album, the original 1927 lyrics of ''Ol' Man River'' were heard for the first time on a hi-fi stereo recording. Gordon MacRae's version of the song, as performed on '' The Railroad Hour'', changed the phrase "white man boss" to "big man boss".

References

External links

1927 lyrics to Ol' Man River
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ol' Man River 1927 songs Songs about rivers Songs with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II Songs with music by Jerome Kern Paul Robeson songs Bing Crosby songs Songs about labor Songs from Show Boat Songs from musicals Works about the Mississippi River

Early versions

Turning upbeat-sounding melody into tragic one

Robeson's alterations to song lyrics

See also

References

Further reading

External links