Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, is one of the most famous songs from their classic 1927 musical play Show Boat, adapted from Edna Ferber's novel. Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American popular composer. ... For work done with Richard Rodgers, see Rodgers and Hammerstein Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was a New-York born writer, producer, and (usually uncredited) director of musicals for almost forty years. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theater combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. One notable exception is the song Bill, which was originally written for Kern in 1918 by P. G. Wodehouse but reworked by Hammerstein for Show Boat, and two songs not by... Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 - April 16, 1968), Jewish-American novelist, author, and playwright. ...

The song, written in a blues tempo, is sung in the show by several characters, but is most closely associated with the character Julie, the mulatto leading lady of the show boat "Cotton Blossom". It is Julie who is first heard singing the song - to Magnolia, the daughter of Cap'n Andy, owner of the show boat. In the musical's plot, the number is supposed to be a song familiar to African-Americans for years, and this provides one of the most dramatic moments in the show. When Queenie, the black cook, comments that it is strange that Julie knows the song because only black people sing it, Julie becomes visibly uncomfortable. Later, we learn that this is because Julie is "passing" as white - she and her white husband are guilty of miscegenation under the state's law. Shahrukh is a bona vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern that typically follows a twelve-bar structure. ... Dame Kelly Holmes is half Black (Jamaican) and half White (English). ... It has been suggested that Anti-miscegenation laws be merged into this article or section. ...

After Julie sings the song through once, Queenie chimes in with her own lyrics to it, and she is joined by her husband Joe, the black stevedore who sings Ol' Man River in the show. This is followed by Julie, Queenie, Magnolia, Joe, and the black chorus all performing a song-and-dance to the number. A stevedore is a person who works at loading or unloading a ship. ... Ol Man River (music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II) is a song in the 1927 musical Show Boat that tells the story of African American hardship and struggles of the time. ...

The last refrain of the song is briefly reprised at the end of the first act by the ensemble, as Magnolia and riverboat gambler Gaylord Ravenal enter a local church to get married. An ensemble cast is a cast in which the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance in a dramatic production. ...

The song makes one last appearance in Act II of the show, when Magnolia uses it as an audition piece while trying to get a job as a singer in the Trocadero nightclub after Ravenal has deserted her.

Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man was extremely associated with 1920's torch singer Helen Morgan, who played Julie in the original 1927 stage production of Show Boat, as well as the 1932 revival and the 1936 film version. While Morgan was alive, she "owned" the song as much as Judy Garland "owned" Over the Rainbow. However, Morgan died prematurely in 1941, her recordings are seldom played, and the 1936 film version of Show Boat was taken completely out of circulation in 1942 to make way for MGM's 1951 remake which featured Ava Gardner as Julie (singing dubbed by Annette Warren). Therefore, modern audiences unfamiliar with the 1936 film have most likely never heard Helen Morgan's performance of the song. Another singer who had a big hit with it was Lena Horne, who sang it in the Jerome Kern biopic Till the Clouds Roll By, and could have easily played Julie in MGM's Show Boat had the studio not been nervous about casting her in the role. A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love. ... Helen Morgan was an born 2 August 1900 in rural Danville, Illinois. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an Oscar-nominated American film actress, considered by many to be one of the greatest singing stars of Hollywoods Golden Era of musical film. ... Over the Rainbow music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, is one of the most famous songs of the late 1930s. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... In film, a remake is a newer version of a previously released film or a newer version of the source (play, novel, story, etc. ... Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. ... Lena Horne photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1941 Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (born June 30, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American popular singer. ... Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American popular composer. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ...

In its own way, the song is almost as controversial as Ol' Man River, though its lyrics have caused less of an uproar because the "offensive" portion is sung not by Julie but by Queenie, and is therefore not usually heard outside the show. In her section of the song, Queenie has the lyric:

My man is shiftless,
An' good for nothin', too.
He's my man just the same.
He's never 'round here
When there is work to do,
He's never 'round here when there's workin' to do.

This lyric was included in every production of Show Boat up until 1966, except for the 1951 film version, in which this section of the song was simply omitted. In the 1966 Lincoln Center production of the show, produced during the height of the Civil Rights era, this part of the lyric was completely rewritten by an uncredited writer to avoid any controversy, and it has remained that way ever since - except in the now-famous EMI 3-CD album set of Show Boat, released in 1988. The revised lyric went: 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... The EMI Group (LSE: EMI) is a music company comprising the major record label, EMI Music, based in Brook Green in London, England, and EMI Music Publishing, based on Charing Cross Road, London. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

My man's a dreamer,
He don't have much to say
He's my man just the same
Instead o' workin,
He sits and dreams all day,
Instead o' workin', he'll be dreamin' all day.

The 1951 film version of Show Boat went even one step further than the 1966 stage revival in "smoothing out" any "edginess" about the song, by omitting all reference to it as one sung for years by African-Americans and thereby omitting the section in which Queenie remarks that it is strange for Julie to know the song. In the 1951 film, the song is simply a love song Julie sings about her husband Steve, not a folk tune. Lena Horne also sings it this way in Till the Clouds Roll By. Languages Predominantly American English Religions Predominantly Christianity and Islam Related ethnic groups Sub-Saharan Africans and other African groups, some with Native American groups. ...

Reference

Kreuger, Miles Show Boat: The Story of a Classic American Musical Oxford, 1977