Who Should Sing 'Ol' Man River'?: The Lives of an American Song
This book tells the almost eighty-year performance history of a great popular song. Examining more than two hundred recorded and filmed versions of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s classic tune, the book reveals the power of performers to remake one popular song into many different guises. Written for the African American singer Paul Robeson, “Ol’ Man River” enjoyed instant success in the 1927 Broadway musical Show Boat and became a signature song for Robeson, who turned the tune toward his own goals as an activist. Beyond Robeson and Show Boat, “Ol’ Man River” also had a long and rich life in the world of popular music. An astonishing variety of singers and musicians—from pop to jazz, opera to doo‐wop, rhythm and blues to gospel to reggae—all chose to perform or record it. These included Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Duke Ellington, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, Cher, and Rod Stewart. At the heart of Hammerstein’s lyric is a clear-eyed vision of the black experience in the United States, and performers—black or white—have had to deal with the song’s charged racial content. The book traces this aspect of “Ol’ Man River” through American history, an at-times high-stakes journey where the African American struggle for dignity and equality came down to the lyrics of a popular song.