Lyr Req: Old Man River / Ol' Man River

Subject: lyric request: Old Man River
From:
Date: 27 Dec 96 - 03:30 PM

Does anyone know the lyrics to "Old Man River"? Thank you.

Subject: RE: lyric request: Old Man River
From: Kathleen
Date: 30 Dec 96 - 09:33 PM

If you are referring to the "Ole' Man River" from Show Boat the musical you can buy the book with the words and sheet music. It can be bought and/or ordered at any store that sells sheet music.

Subject: RE: lyric request: Old Man River
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 03 Jan 97 - 04:53 PM

You can also find the lyrics at Ms. Hwa, who has lots of lyrics to Broadway songs (and _Carmen_ arias).

Subject: RE: lyric request: Old Man River
From: Gargoyle
Date: 04 Jan 97 - 01:41 PM

(Eb)Ol' Man (Cm) River, dat (Eb)ol' man (Ab)river
He (Eb)must know (Ab)sump-in, but (Eb) don't say (Cm)nothin
He (Bb7)jus' keeps roll-in, He (Fm7)keeps on (Bb9)roll-in a (Eb)(Ab6)(Eb)
He don't plant (Cm)ta-ters, He (Eb)don't plant (Ab)cotton
An (Eb)dem dat (Cm)plants em is (Eb/G)soon for- (Gbdim7)gotten
But (Fm7) Ol'Man (Bb7) River, he (Fm7) jus keeps (Bb9)rollin a (Eb)long. (Ab,Eb,D7)

(Gm) You an (D7)me, we (Gm) and (D7)strain,
(Gm6) Body all (Cdim7)achin an (Gm) racked wid (D7)pain.
(Gm) Tote dat (Cm6) barge (Gm)Lift dat (Cdim7) bale
(Gm) Git a little (Cdim7)drunk and you (Gm) land in (Fm7)(Bb7)
(Eb)Ah gits (Cm)weary and (Eb)sick of (Ab)try-in
Ah fem (Eb) tired of (Bb9) livin and (Cm)skeered of (F7) dyin
But (Eb) ol man (Cm) river he (Fm9) jus keeps (Bb7) rollin a (Eb)long. Abm,Eb,Bb7,Eb

1927 by Kern and Hammerstein

Subject: RE: lyric request: Old Man River
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 06 Jan 97 - 12:18 PM

For some reason the Web address I tried to copy in didn't copy. Let me try again:

http://das-www.harvard.edu/users/students/Rebecca_Hwa/lyrics/hammerstein.html#Ah1

There are more lyrics there in addition to the ones Gargoyle gave.

Subject: RE: lyric request: Old Man River
From:
Date: 20 Jan 97 - 09:52 AM

Good job Gargoyle, but you left out the word "jail". "Git a little drunk, an' you land in jail". Also there is the introduction, originally written: Niggers all work on the Mississippi, Niggers all work while the white folk play, Pullin dat rope from d' dawn till sunset, Gittin no rest till d' judgement day.

Let me go 'way from d' Mississippi, Let me go way from d' white man boss, Show me dat stream called d' river Jordan, Dats de ol' stream dat I longs to cross.

Paul Robeson, who sang it in the original production, kept changing the lyrics as he performed it in concert over the years. As a political statement, he evolved a version where he, first of all replaced "Niggers all work" with "Here we all work", and eventually began to sing, "you show a little spunk, and you land in jail" and instead of "tired of livin' an' skeered of dying" he sang, "must keep fightin', until I'm dyin".

It was inspirational to hear Robeson do that, because you knew you were listening to Robeson, and you knew who he was and what he was, but unfortunaltely, other singers picked up some of the changes and the song lost a lot of its poignancy and impact and became kind of PC wishywashy.

Subject: RE: lyric request: Old Man River
From:
Date: 24 Jan 97 - 04:33 PM

Hey! I just noticed I left out the first four lines.

There's an ol' man called the Mississippi

Dat's de ol' man dat I longs to be

Whut does he care if a man's got troubles

Whut does he care if de land ain' free

Here Robeson made the change to "that's an ol' man I don't want to be" to give the sense that it wasn't good to give in to the temptation to become apathetic about social issues. Nice of him, but it takes a lot out of the song.

Subject: RE: lyric request: Old Man River
From:
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 10:15 AM

request lyrics for ole man river and up the lazy river

Subject: RE: lyric request: Old Man River
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 10:24 AM

My son's version:
Old man river
He don't wear cotton

from which evolved

He wears polyester
And it smells rotten...Sorry

Subject: RE: lyric request: Old Man River
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Apr 01 - 01:20 PM

You can find the song by using our blue search box and putting [man river] in square brackets. The song is a little hard to find, because of the usual dialect spelling of "old." If you use our SuperSearch and search just for man river, you'll find that there have been some variations of the song. Paul Robeson made some interesting changes to the song in the late 1940's.
Click here for the song, and click here for the Robeson lyrics.
-Joe Offer- (e-mail sent - I actually had to think to find "Lazy River" without typing the lyrics [click])

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Man River / Ol' Man River
From: Genie
Date: 25 May 10 - 05:31 PM

Then the song's ethnicity can seem quite different. It's all in the delivery.

Stan Daniels: Old Man River

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Man River? / Ol' Man River
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Oct 19 - 12:06 AM

It's interesting to trace the history of the Paul Robeson recordings of this song. It was written in 1927 by Oscar Hammerstein. Hammerstein was always a crusader for social justice, so the song has a powerful message. But since it was written in 1927, it was sung in so-called "negro dialect." It was a signature song for Robeson, and he first recorded it in "dialect." Each time he recorded it, he removed more of the language that might be considered offensive. I'm not sure whether that improved the song, but that's what Robeson did.

Another song Robeson had trouble with, was "Old Black Joe." I think he ended up singing it "Old Man Joe."

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Man River / Ol' Man River
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 29 Oct 19 - 06:03 AM

My favourite version of Ol' Man River is Sammy Davis Jr's - so, so powerful.

Sammy Davis Jr - Ol' Man River

LFF

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Man River / Ol' Man River
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 31 Oct 19 - 07:32 PM

Wow, LFF! Just wow!