"Ol' Man River" (music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II) is a song in the 1927 musical Show Boat, that tells a melancholy story of African American hardship and struggles of the time, related to the endless flow of the Mississippi River, from the view of a dock worker on a showboat. ^{[1] [2] [3]} It is the most famous song in the show. It is sung complete, once, by the dock worker "Joe" who travels with the boat, and is re-sung three times more in brief reprises. The song is notable for several aspects: the lyrical major-key melody, the subjects of toil and social class, metaphor to the Mississippi, and as a musically rare bass solo (more common for baritones or tenors). Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of popular music. ... 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. ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... For films based on the musical, see Show Boat (film). ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... For the river in Canada, see Mississippi River (Ontario). ... The Music City Queen on the Cumberland River, Nashville. ... Reprise is also the name of a record label, see Reprise Records In music a reprise is the repetition or return of the opening material later in a composition such as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though it originally (18th century) was simply any repeated section, such as... In music theory, the major scale is one of the diatonic scales. ... For the river in Canada, see Mississippi River (Ontario). ... A bass (or basso in Italian) is a male singer who sings in the deepest vocal range of the human voice. ... In music, a tenor is a male singer with a high voice (although not as high as a countertenor). ...

"Ol' Man River" is sung first by Joe and a male chorus, and reprised by Joe and full chorus in the final scene, but twice reprised by him as a solo. He serves as a sort of musical one-man Greek chorus, and the song, when reprised, comments on the action, as if saying, "This has happened, but the river keeps rolling on anyway". The Greek chorus (choros) is believed to have grown out of the Greek dithyrambs and tragikon drama in tragic plays of the ancient Greek theatre. ...

Various versions

The song was first performed in the original stage production of Show Boat on December 27, 1927 by Jules Bledsoe. However, the most famous rendition of it, one that is still noted today, was sung by Paul Robeson in James Whale's 1936 film version of Show Boat (Robeson had first performed the song in the 1928 London production of the show and in the 1932 Broadway revival, and had even recorded it with Paul Whiteman's orchestra back in 1928). Many musicians and musical groups have covered the song, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Al Jolson and Ray Charles, and it is considered an American classic. William Warfield sang it in the 1951 film version of Show Boat, another rendition which became very famous. (It became his signature song.) Famous bass singer of The Temptations, Melvin Franklin was known to sing this at most concerts, and it eventually became his signature song, as well. Judy Garland, one of the few female singers to attempt the song, sang a powerful rendition of it on her television show in 1962, and also recorded it. December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (362nd in leap years). ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jules Bledsoe (1903–1943), baritone, was an renowned opera singer and the first African American artist to gain regular employment in Broadway. ... Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson (April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was a multi-lingual American actor, athlete, bass-baritone concert singer, writer, civil rights activist, fellow traveler, Spingarn Medal winner, and Stalin Peace Prize laureate. ... James Whale (July 22, 1889 – May 29, 1957) was a ground-breaking British Hollywood film director, best known for his work in the horror movie genre, making such pictures as Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man. ... Year 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Show Boat is the name of a musical film based on the stage musical of the same name by Oscar Hammerstein II, which was adapted from the novel by Edna Ferber. ... 1928 Columbia Records label with caricature of Paul Whiteman Paul Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was a popular american orchestral leader. ... Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American popular singer and Academy Award-winning actor whose career lasted from 1926 until his death in 1977. ... Sinatra redirects here. ... Al Jolson (May 26, 1886–October 23, 1950) was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian and actor of Jewish heritage whose career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950. ... For Ray Charles, the composer and conductor of the Ray Charles Singers, see Ray Charles (composer). ... Portrait of William Warfield by Carl Van Vechten, Feb. ... Year 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... “Temptations” redirects here. ... Melvin Franklin (David Melvin English) (October 12, 1942 – February 23, 1995) was an American bass singer, best known for his role as a member of Motown singing group The Temptations from 1961 to 1994. ... Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 - June 22, 1969) was an Academy Award-nominated American film actress and singer, best known for her role as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939). ...

The song also has versions in the Indian languages Hindi, Bengali and Assamese sung by Bhupen Hazarika, who met Robeson while studying at Columbia University. The Assamese song is called Bistirno Parore, the Begnali version is Bistirno Dupare. The Hindi composition is known as "Ganga Behti Ho Kyon." Instead of the Mississippi, the song is dedicated to the Brahmaputra river in the Assamese version and the Ganges river in the Bengali and Hindi versions. Hindi (DevanāgarÄ«: or , IAST: , IPA:  ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is used, along with English, for central government administrative purposes. ... Bangla redirects here. ... Assamese (অসমীয়া) or Asamiya is the language spoken by some of the natives of the state of Assam in northeast India. ... Bhupen Hazarika is a multi-faceted artist from Assam, a state in the north-eastern part of India. ... The Brahmaputra is one of the major rivers of Asia. ... Ganga redirects here. ...

Second generation melody

From the show's song "Cotton Blossom", the notes in the phrase "Cotton Blossom, Cotton Blossom" are the same notes as those in the phrase "Old Man River, dat Old 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 stevedores sang in "Cotton Blossom" but invert some of it, and slow down the tempo. This adaptation gave "Ol' Man River" a somewhat tragic quality. Stevedores on a New York dock loading barrels of corn syrup onto a barge on the Hudson River. ...

The year was 1927, and few predicted the second-generation song would become so popular in the Roaring Twenties, which had lighter upbeat songs, such as "Yes, We Have No Bananas" (1923). For the film, see The Roaring Twenties. ... Yes! We Have No Bananas is the title of a novelty song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn that was a major hit in 1923, and one of the top songs of the 20th century. ...

Paul Robeson's alterations to the song lyrics

Beginning in about 1938, and continuing on to the end of his career, Paul Robeson changed a few of the lyrics of "Ol' Man River" when singing it at recitals, though never in actual stage performances of Show Boat.^[1] (In addition to the 1928 and 1932 stage productions, he appeared in a Los Angeles stage revival in 1940). And except for the change in the lyrics of the word "niggers" to "darkies," the lyrics of the song as performed 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 used in his post-1936 concert recitals. Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A recital is an instrumental or vocal performance given by a single person (perhaps accompanied by piano) or a performance of the works of a single composer. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Year 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The original lyrics to the main section of the song are as follows: ^[2]

Dere's an ol' man called the Mississippi,

Dat's de ol' man that I'd like to be,

What does he care if the world's got troubles?

What does he care if de land ain't free?

Ol' Man River,

dat Ol' Man River,

He mus' know something',

But don' say nothin';

He jus' keeps rollin',

He keeps on rollin' along.

He don't plant taters,

He don't plant cotton,

An' them that plants 'em

Is soon forgotten,

But Ol' Man River,

He jus' keeps rollin' along.

You an' me, we sweat an' strain,

Body all achin' and racked with pain.

"Tote that barge! Lift that bale!"

Git a little drunk,

An' you lands in jail!

Ah gits weary,

An' sick o' tryin',

Ah'm tired o' livin',

And skeered o' dyin',^[3]

But Ol' Man River,

He jus' keeps rollin' along! ^[2]

In the second act, in order to make the song even more universal and poignant, Hammerstein has Joe sing:

New things come, and old things go

But all things look the same to Joe.

Wars go on and some folks die,

the rest forget

the reason why.
- rather than You an' me, we sweat an' strain. etc.

However, these second-act lyrics were never sung in any film version of Show Boat. In fact, in the 1951 film, Joe reprises You an' me, we sweat an' strain in the film's finale.

In the 1951 film version of Show Boat, as well as the 1962 studio recording and the 1966 Lincoln Center revival of the show, William Warfield sang only the introductory verse and the lyrics to the main section of the song, but omitted the rest, 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: Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. ... Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Niggers all work on de Mississippi,

Niggers all work while de white folks play... ^[2]

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 line to Here we all work on de Mississippi. Also, the phrase "feared of dyin' " (rather than "skeered" of dying) has been sung in some recordings^[3], notably Lawrence Tibbett's 1930's version, Gordon MacRae's 1950's version (first heard on The Railroad Hour), and Frank Sinatra's 1946 performance, first heard in the film Till the Clouds Roll By. Lawrence Tibbett Lawrence Mervil Tibbett (November 16, 1896 - July 15, 1960) is acknowledged as one of the greatest American singers of opera. ... Albert Gordon MacRae (born 12 March 1921 in East Orange, New Jersey, – died 24 January 1986 in Lincoln, Nebraska) was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in musical films of the 1950s. ... The Railroad Hour was a half-hour musical drama series broadcast on radio from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s. ... Sinatra redirects here. ...

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 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. Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... rpm or RPM may mean: revolutions per minute RPM Package Manager (originally called Red Hat Package Manager) RPM (movie) RPM (band), a Brazilian rock band RPM (magazine), a former Canadian music industry magazine In firearms, Rounds Per Minute: how many shots an automatic weapon can fire in one minute On...

The changes in Robeson's concert renditions of the song shift the portrayal of Joe away from a resigned and sad character who is susceptible to the forces of his world, to one who is timelessly empowered and able to persevere through even the most trying circumstances.

Frank Sinatra famously changed the "Niggers all work on de Mississippi..." to "Here we all work on the Mississippi..." in a version of the song that he recorded post-1946. His 1946 performance of it omitted this section altogether.

Parodies and References

• A parody version was performed on CBS Radio by Stan Freberg and Daws Butler in 1957, entitled "Elderly Man River." The parody lampooned what would today be termed "political correctness" by featuring a prudish censor from the "Citizen's Radio Board" who repeatedly interrupts Freberg's performance of the song to criticize (and insist on changes on) the grammar and appropriateness of the song's lyrics.

• In an episode of the TV situation comedy Maude, the housekeeper Florida (played by Esther Rolle) sings "Darkies all work while de white folks play" as she does housework. Her politically correct and liberal employer Maude (Beatrice Arthur) scolds her and says that the words have changed, to which Florida sings "Coloured folks work on the Mississippi". Maude explains that the proper new lyrics to the song are "Here we all work on the Mississippi, here we all work while the straw boss plays." Florida replies that those may be the new lyrics, but the only problem is that "y'all still playing and we're still working".

• In The Simpsons episode "Simpsons Tall Tales", Doctor Julius Hibbert is featured as a steamboat captain singing "Ol' Man River".

• In an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Robert mentions that he sang this song in his high school chorus days.

• The Australian oddball pop group TISM produced in 1996 a hit single about River Phoenix and his death, entitled "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River".

• A popular, up-tempo British ballad of 1933, "Old Father Thames," mirrored some of the strains of "Ol' Man River" but celebrated stoicism over despair and resignation: Old Father Thames keeps rolling along, / Down to the mighty sea. / What does he know? What does he care? / Nothing for you or me.... (Words and music by Raymond Wallace & "Betsy O'Hogan" [Lawrence Wright])

• In the animated short Mississippi Hare, some of which takes place on a Mississippi riverboat, a riverboat gambler named Colonel Shuffle threatens to throw Bugs Bunny into "Ol' Man River".

• In the 1947 film version of James Thurber's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Danny Kaye, during one of Mitty's fantasies, performs a number called "Fashions by Anatol", which contains the parodistic (and somewhat irrelevant) line "Tote dat barge! Lift dat veil!", referring of course, to a woman's veil. The film also contains a reference to Show Boat's Gaylord Ravenal, by including a Mississippi riverboat sequence in which Mitty (Kaye) imagines himself as riverboat gambler Gaylord Mitty.

• In a politically incorrect Daffy Duck cartoon, Daffy suddenly appears as an old black slave, and in dialect, speaks the line "Tote dat barge! Lift dat bale!".

• In a Snagglepuss cartoon, Snagglepuss also says the line for no real reason (but not in dialect).

• In an episode of Family Guy, ("Brian Goes Back to College"), Ashlee Simpson is about to start miming a song when the song changes to "Ol' Man River".

• Singer Patti LuPone sang this song in her concert Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda stating "There were only two things standing between me and this role"
• During an episode of Futurama, Bender complains about the amount of work he has to do, saying "Yes Miss Leela, no Miss Leela, tote that space barge, lift that space pail."
• In an episode of The Golden Girls, it is revealed that Dorothy (Bea Arthur} sang this song in high school. When prompted, she delivers the famous octave drop on the line, "Get a little drunk, and you land in jail".
• Tunis born and usually German language Singer Roberto Blanco sang it on the 70th anniversary of his birthday live on TV.
• On an episode of Martin entitled "Dead Men Don't Flush", the cast sings Ol' Man River around the supposedly dead plumber's body as he sits on the couch.
• In the first episode of Boys from the Blackstuff, Loggo (Alan Igbon) is seen walking down the street wearing fishing gear singing a few lines from the song.
• Mad Magazine published a parody about Hollywood movie stars and MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer who went to great lengths to "collect more stars than the heavens". Using the tune of Ol' Man River, cartoon movie star characters sung:

L.B. Mayer, that L.B. Mayer, with him no actor has got a prayer,

That L.B. Mayer he just keeps owning us all.

He owns our bodies, he owns our faces,

And them that bugs him he soon replaces,

That L.B. Mayer he just keeps owning us all.

• Heath Ledger had the song title tatooed on his arm.

From Rolling Stone, March 23, 2006: CBS Radio Inc. ... Stanley Victor Freberg (born August 7, 1926 in Los Angeles) is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, puppeteer and advertising creative director. ... Daws Butler in 1976. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... Political correctness is the alteration of language to redress real or alleged injustices and discrimination or to avoid offense. ... Maude is a half-hour American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972 until April 29, 1978. ... Florida Evans was a fictional character on the sitcoms Maude and its spinoff Good Times. ... Esther Rolle (November 8, 1920–November 17, 1998) was an American actress. ... Beatrice Arthur (born Bernice Frankel, May 13, 1922), also billed as Bea Arthur, is a two-time Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award winning American comedian, actor and singer. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Simpsons Tall Tales is the season finale and twenty-first episode of the twelfth season of The Simpsons. ... Julius M. Hibbert, M.D., is a fictional doctor and physician on the TV series The Simpsons. ... For other uses, see Steamboat (disambiguation). ... Everybody Loves Raymond is an American sitcom originally broadcast on CBS from 1996 to 2005. ... TISM (an acronym of This Is Serious Mum) is a seven piece anonymous alternative rock band from Melbourne, Australia. ... River Jude Phoenix (August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated American film actor. ... (Hell Never Be An) Ol Man River was the first single to be released off Machiavelli and the Four Seasons (1995) by Australian alternative rock band TISM. The title never appears in the song, and due to this it is commonly, though incorrectly, referred to as Im On... Mississippi Hare is a Looney Tunes cartoon short produced in 1947 by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, released in 1949. ... Colonel Shuffle is a character in the Looney Tunes stable, based in the Southern United States. ... Bugs Bunny is an animated rabbit/hare who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Warner Bros. ... For the political scientist, see James A. Thurber. ... For the 1947 film, see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947 film). ... Kaye entertaining U.S. troops at Sasebo, Japan, 25 Oct 1945 David Daniel Kaminsky, known as Danny Kaye (January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, singer and comedian. ... Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. ... Snagglepuss is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon character created in 1959, a pink anthropomorphic mountain lion voiced by Daws Butler. ... Family Guy is an Emmy Award-winning American animated television series about a dysfunctional family in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. ... “Brian Goes Back to College (and Stewie Goes with Him for Obvious Comedic Reasons)” is an episode from season four of FOX animated television series Family Guy. ... Ashlee Nicole Simpson (born October 3, 1984) is an American pop rock singer, songwriter, and actress. ... Ashlee Nicole Simpson (born October 3, 1984) is an American pop rock singer, songwriter, and actress. ... Patti LuPone (born April 21, 1949) is a Tony Award-winning American singer and actress. ... This article is about the television series. ... For the Hong Kong film, see The Golden Girls (1995 film). ... Beatrice Arthur as Maude Findlay on Maude. ... Martin is an American television sitcom produced by HBO Independent Productions (a subsidiary of HBO, in turn a division of Time Warner) that aired for five seasons from August 27, 1992 to May 1, 1997 on FOX. The show starred comedian Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell. ... Boys from the Blackstuff is a British television drama serial of five episodes, originally transmitted from October 10 to November 7, 1982 on BBC TWO. The serial was written by Liverpudlian playwright Alan Bleasdale, and was a sequel to a television play called The Black Stuff, which he had originally... Alan Igbon is an English actor from Manchester . ... Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Heath Andrew Ledger (April 4, 1979 – January 22, 2008) was an Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and SAG Award-nominated Australian-born film actor who lived in New York City. ...

"One day, his girlfriend, Michelle Williams, wrote a song title -- "Old Man River" -- on his forearm. Ledger got a tattoo artist to run the needles over her words, the way a shopkeeper will frame his first dollar. The song comes from a sad musical, and contains this key advice: "He must know somethin', he don't say nothin'."

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Amazon.com: Broadway: The American Musical: Books: Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Show Boat Soundtrack - Ol Man River LYRICS" (copyrighted), Lyrics Download, 2007, webpage: LyricsD-Ol-Man-River: includes phrase "Niggers all work while de white folks play".
3. ^ ^{a b c} "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.

Ashland, Massachusetts is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. ...

References

• "Show Boat Soundtrack - Ol Man River LYRICS" (copyrighted), Lyrics Download, 2007, webpage: LyricsD-Ol-Man-River:

Recommended reading

• The chapter "Ol' Man River" in the book Stardust Memories: The Biography of Twelve of America's Most Popular Songs by Will Friedwald (New York: Pantheon Books, 2002).