Ol' Man River Lyrics – Show Boat

Song Overview

“Ol' Man River”—the bruised-yet-hopeful show-stopper from Show Boat—was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in 1925, published in 1927, and instantly welded itself to the American psyche. The lyrics track a levee worker’s exhaustion while the tune rolls forward like the Mississippi itself, indifferent, unstoppable. Sung first on Broadway by baritone Jules Bledsoe and popularised worldwide by Paul Robeson, the number has since sailed through jazz clubs, civil-rights rallies, pop charts and film soundtracks, never once dropping its oar.

Song Credits

• Featured: Traditionally voiced by a deep bass-baritone (Jules Bledsoe 1927; Paul Robeson 1936 film; Morris Robinson 2013 video)
• Producer (1928 single): Victor Talking Machine Co.
• Composer: Jerome Kern
• Lyricist: Oscar Hammerstein II
• Release Date (stage): December 27 1927 (Broadway)
• First Recording: January 11 1928 – Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra (vocal Bing Crosby)
• Genre: Show-tune / Jazz standard / Early pop ballad
• Instruments: string-rich pit orchestra, brass choir, woodwinds, rhythm section, banjo, concert choir, solo bass-baritone
• Label (hit single): Victor 35912
• Mood: Weary yet resilient
• Length: c. 3 min 50 sec (standard theatre cut)
• Language: English (notable Yiddish, German, Japanese, French covers)
• Album: Show Boat—Original 1928 Cast Album
• Music Style: slow rolling 4/4 spiritual-blues hybrid
• Poetic Meter: predominantly trochaic tetrameter (“Ol' man / riv-er ...”)
• Copyrights © 1927 T.B. Harms Co.; renewals held by Williamson Music / WB Music Corp.

Song Meaning and Annotations

The opening verse plunges us straight into cotton-bale labour. A low string drone mirrors back-breaking strain, while muted brass jabs suggest barking foremen. Rhythmically, those eighth-note rope-pulls feel like oars hitting water. The lyrics paint a landscape of enforced toil, yet they never stay purely descriptive: they pivot into a spiritual yearning (“Show me that stream called the river Jordan”), foreshadowing freedom songs of the 1960s.

Then comes the title refrain—every slow-rising fourth feels like a tired chest inhaling against the weight of history. The Mississippi becomes a colossal witness, wordless yet all-knowing, rolling on in 4/4 quarter-note inevitability. That sense of perpetual motion turned the tune into a template for later anthems of endurance such as Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

Historically, Hammerstein’s lyric borrowed the viewpoint of Black boatmen at a time when Broadway songs rarely acknowledged Black hardship. Robeson later rewrote select lines (“I’m tired of livin’ and feared of dyin’” became “I keeps laughin’ instead of cryin’”) to align with evolving civil-rights optimism.

Verse 1

Here we all work 'long the Mississippi …

Kern keeps the harmony static—just I and V chords—trapping workers in place.

Chorus

Ol' man river, dat ol' man river …

The key slips down a whole tone, letting the singer’s register plunge like the muddy current. That harmonic sag embodies weariness.

Bridge

I gets weary, and sick of tryin' …

The melody’s leap of a minor sixth on “weary” is the tune’s only real cry of pain, quickly swallowed by descending thirds—submission, resignation, perhaps resilience.

Similar Songs

1. “A Change Is Gonna Come” – Sam Cooke
   Cooke explicitly acknowledged Ol' Man River as a melodic ancestor. Both songs move in languid tempo, invoke water imagery and pivot from despair to cautious hope. Cooke’s soaring gospel arrangement updates Kern’s orchestral swell, and his civil-rights context mirrors the show tune’s original subtext.
2. “Summertime” – George Gershwin
   Another 1930s American art-song that fused African-American folk inflections with Tin Pan Alley craft. Where Ol' Man River trudges in 4/4, “Summertime” drifts in lullaby 2/2, yet both lean on pentatonic lines and blue thirds to evoke languor and heat. Each became a jazz standard, endlessly re-interpreted.
3. “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” – E.Y. “Yip” Harburg / Jay Gorney
   Written five years later, this Great Depression plea shares the earlier song’s minor-to-major shifts and social-commentary bravado. Where Kern used the river as metaphor, Harburg used shattered patriotic dreams—but both choruses land on a resigned downward cadence that audiences of the era recognised as the sound of struggle.

Questions and Answers

Why did Kern and Hammerstein choose a slow tempo?

The measured pace mimics the Mississippi’s current and underscores physical fatigue, allowing each syllable of the lyrics to land with weight.

Was the song ever a commercial hit?

Yes. Paul Whiteman’s 1928 single featuring Bing Crosby topped U.S. charts for three weeks, a rarity for a theatre number at the time.

How did Paul Robeson reshape the song?

He deepened vowel sounds, slowed phrasing, and later altered words to tilt the message toward solidarity rather than fatalism, aligning with his activism.

Are there notable cover versions?

Frank Sinatra (1946), Sam Cooke (1958 TV performance), Judy Garland (1963), Aretha Franklin (1968 sessions), The Temptations (1982) each recast the piece inside their era’s idiom.

Does the song still appear in modern media?

Its most famous film use remains James Whale’s 1936 Show Boat, but the line “keeps on rollin’” resurfaces as a cinematic shorthand for endurance—most recently quoted in Ken Burns’ 2022 PBS documentary on the river.

Awards and Chart Positions

• #1 United States single (Paul Whiteman ft. Bing Crosby, March 1928)
• Grammy Hall of Fame induction 2006 (Robeson/Whiteman version)
• AFI 100 Songs: ranked #24 (2004)
• Show Boat 1932 cast-album (with “Ol' Man River”) added to U.S. National Recording Registry 2005

Fan and Media Reactions

“Ol' Man River still captures the pain and promise of life on the Mississippi.” Toby Saltzman, East-West News Service

“Paul Robeson’s heartfelt rendition anchors Whale’s film; lush Technicolor can’t match that soul.” The Horse’s Head film blog

“He is the actor most identified with the role of Joe and song ‘Ol' Man River’.” Charlotte Symphony feature

“Every time Sinatra hits the low G on ‘river,’ chills.” Listener comment archived by Jazz Lines Publications

“Sam Cooke bends the melody closer to gospel, proving the lyrics still speak in 1958—and today.” Official Sam Cooke Facebook video thread