"The song ""Ol' Man River"" from the 1927 musical ""Showboat"" was sung most famously by Paul Robeson. To which river does it refer?"
Ol' Man River Ol' Man River "Ol' Man River" (music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II) is a show tune from the 1927 musical "Show Boat" that contrasts the struggles and hardships of African Americans with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River. It is sung from the point of view of a black stevedore on a showboat, 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
Ol' Man River 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's classic 1936 film version of "Show Boat". (Robeson had performed the song before in the 1928 London production of the show and in the 1932 Broadway revival.) The first known recording of the song was by 'Kenn' Sisson and His Orchestra, recorded on December 27, 1927, with Irving Kaufman on vocals. From the show's opening number "Cotton Blossom", the notes in the phrase "Cotton Blossom, Cotton Blossom"