Old Man River as Metaphor
Created | Updated Jul 8, 2023
Old Man River as Metaphor
"Ol' Man River," a song from the 1927 musical Show Boat1 has remained popular for nearly 100 years, having been sung by artists such as Paul Robeson, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, William Warfield, and The Temptations. Rivers are often used as metaphors for the inexorable passage of time, and this is true for "Ol' Man River," at least in part. The lines "I'm tired of living and scared of dying, but Ol' Man River just keeps rollin' along" sound like resignation toward whatever time has in store. Wikipedia, reflecting a consensus of opinions, says, "The song contrasts the struggles and hardships of African Americans with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River."
An interesting thing has happened with pop culture's embrace of the song over the years. Paul Robeson, who made it his signature song in later life, didn't play Joe (who sang the song) in the 1927 debut but took the role in the 1928 London production.
Show Boat was a smash hit, and "Ol' Man River" was bound to be performed by the leading singers of the day. Sure enough, Bing Crosby recorded it in 1928. This recording is just the refrain, with none of the verses. It's hard to see how Bing would relate to African-American struggles, but the public didn't seem to mind. his version.
In the 1936 film version, Robeson leaped from the stage to the screen, reprising the role of Joe. In the film, the second verse includes the line, "D@rkies all work on the Mississippi." The film thankfully avoids using the "N" word. Robeson sang the song many times during the remainder of his life. A later version has the line "There's an old man called the Mississippi, that's the old man I don't like to be." "You gets a little drunk and you land in jail" gets rewritten as "You show a little grit and you land in jail." By the end of the song, he's promising to keep fighting. It's amazing how deep Robeson's voice is. Combine that with the fire he could bring to his singing, and this familiar song becomes very powerful.
Ol' Man River rolled along for 10 more years, and in 1946 Hollywood introduced "Till the Clouds Roll by," a film biography of Jerome Kern, the song's composer. MGM took the rather daring step of featuring Lena Horne in some prominent numbers, ensuring that those numbers would not be shown in many Southern states. They were less daring when it came to "Ol' Man River." One could say that Paul Robeson had become suspect for his work with the Council on African Affairs after World War II and might have sunk the film had he appeared in it. In any event, Frank Sinatra was hired to sing the song. The public had gotten used to hearing Bing Crosby sing it, and Sinatra followed Crosby's practice of just singing the refrain with no verses. The American public, eager for escapist entertainment now that the war was over, thought it was fine, except, of course, for the Lena Horne songs that Southerners didn't get to see anyway.
Ol' Man River kept rolling alone for another five years, and another movie version of Show Boat sailed into view in full colour, with opulent sets and famous stars such as Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, and Agnes Moorehead. This time, Joe was performed by William Warfield, a native of Rochester, N.Y. who had trained at the Eastman School of Music. Warfield was by any measure an extraordinary singer who would go on to do Porgy and Bess on Broadway, and sing the bass solos in Handel's "Messiah" under the baton of Leonard Bernstein. He graced the 1951 film with his singing, and, like Robeson, would keep singing Ol' Man Riverfor the rest of his life. In the 1951 film he sang the first verse (which is more than Crosby or Sinatra did) but not the second (which Robeson did sing).
I grew up in a small town in New England, and pretty much wore out my parents' copy of the 1961 Bernstein Messiah album, in which William Warfield sang the bass solos. I went to college from 1966 to 1970. Imagine my delight when I heard that William Warfield was going to give a recital under the visiting artists series at my college. I can't remember whether I had seen the 1951 Show Boat on TV, but it wouldn't have mattered. William Warfield had the ultimate bass voice, and I was delighted to hear him sing serious pieces as well as a piece that imagined what Handel would have done if asked to set Old Mother Hubbard to music. I don't think he sang "Ol' Man River," which had rolled along at least 16 years since the 1951 "Show Boat." Mr. Warfield seemed buoyant and self-assured, so maybe he wasn't tired of living yet (He continued to live and sing for at least 30 more years). In any event, I asked for his autograph after the performance, and he seemed happy to give it.
No more film versions have been mounted, but Show Boat has held the stage numerous times since 1951. At some point I acquired a 1988 studio recording that aimed to include all the music that had been used in any of the various versions. This version includes the "N" word in the first verse of Ol' Man River. Bruce Hubbard sang the song in this recording.
A Broadway revival won Tonies in 1995.
Show Boat still has the capacity for inciting controversy. Do you use the "N" word in the first verse of "Ol' Man River"? Do you use "d@rky" instead [as the 1936 film did]? Do you leave out the verse entirely, as the 1951 film did? The life of the black stevedores who moved the boat was hard. Is a song about their despair enough? As Kern and Hammerstein intended, "Ol' Man River" is a protest song. To his credit, Sinatra's 1963 recordingused the lines "Here we all work on the Mississippi, while the white folks play," "Don't look up and don't look down You don't dast make the boss man frown," and, "Let me go way from the white man boss." Even today, a local amateur production of Show Boat sometimes runs into protests over the language in "Ol' Man River"'s first verse. Is the show worth doing at all, with its privileged white characters singing music that owes much to operetta? Nevertheless, the music casts a spell on audiences, and the scene in which two characters run afoul of Mississippi's miscegenation laws seems contemporary in view of current attitudes in the South. One could argue that the show incorporates elements of American cultural history, including popular songs such as "After the Ball" and performances of melodramas. At the end of the show, the original lovers, now old, have a chance to look back on the life that started with an encounter on a showboat. There is no word on what became of Joe. He introduced the show but was never the main attraction. If "Ol' Man River" is a metaphor for the passage of time, then Show Boat covers an impressive period of time. And do things improve for the black characters? Sadly, not in the time period covered by the show. This is the reality of history that underlies the attractive music.
