Editing Ol' Man River (section)

{{short description|1925 composition by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II}}
{{other uses|Old Man River (disambiguation){{!}}Old Man River}}
{{review|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox song
| name          = Ol' Man River
| cover         = Ol' Man River (1927) Sheet music.pdf
| alt           = 
| caption       = Sheet music for the song
| type          = Single
| artist        = [[Paul Whiteman|Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orchestra]] with [[Paul Robeson]] and Mixed Chorus
| album         = 
| EP            = 
| written       = 1925
| published     = 1927 [[T. B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc.|T. B. Harms Co.]]<ref>{{Cite web|title="Ol' Man River"|url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1336044|access-date=2021-08-15|website=National Museum of American History|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Library of Congress. Copyright Office.|url=https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyrig223libr|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1927 Music For the Year 1927 New Series Vol 22 Part 3|date=1927|publisher=U.S. Govt. Print. Off.|others=United States Copyright Office|language=English}}</ref>
| released      = May 1927<ref>{{Cite web|title=Victor 35912 (Black label (popular) 12-in. double-faced) - Discography of American Historical Recordings|url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/objects/detail/30455/Victor_35912|access-date=2021-08-15|website=adp.library.ucsb.edu}}</ref>
| format        = 
| recorded      = March 1, 1928<ref>{{Cite web|title=Victor matrix CVE-43122. Ol' Man River / Paul Whiteman Concert Orchestra ; Paul Robeson - Discography of American Historical Recordings|url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/800017300/CVE-43122-Ol_Man_River|access-date=2021-08-15|website=adp.library.ucsb.edu}}</ref>
| studio        = [[Columbia Records#Recording studios|Liederkranz Hall]], [[New York City]]
| venue         = 
| genre         = [[Show tune]]
| length        = 
| label         = [[Victor Talking Machine Company|Victor]] 35912
| writer        = 
| composer      = [[Jerome Kern]]
| lyricist      = [[Oscar Hammerstein II]]
| producer      = 
| prev_title    = 
| prev_year     = 
| title         = 
| next_title    = 
| next_year     = 
| prev_track    = 
| track_no      = 
| next_track    = 
}}
"'''Ol' Man River'''" is a [[show tune]] from the 1927<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=10538|title=Show Boat - IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information|author=The Broadway League}}</ref> [[Musical theater|musical]] ''[[Show Boat]]'' with music by [[Jerome Kern]] and lyrics by [[Oscar Hammerstein II]], who wrote the song in 1925. The song 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]],<ref name="Amcom">{{cite book|title=Broadway: The American Musical: Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon: 9780821229057: Amazon.com: Books|isbn=0-8212-2905-2|last1=Maslon|first1=Laurence|author-link1=Laurence Maslon|date=13 October 2004|publisher=Bulfinch }}</ref><ref name="MassGeo">"Lesson: Ol' Man River" (school lesson for Mississippi River), Michael E. Marrapodi, New Covenant Christian School, [[Ashland, Massachusetts]], 2006, webpage: [http://www.massgeo.org/river.htm MassGeo-River] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231075237/http://www.massgeo.org/river.htm |date=2007-12-31 }}: shows phrase "feared of dyin' " (rather than "skeered" of dying) as sung in earlier recordings.</ref> 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 the stage version, is heard four more times in brief [[reprise]]s. Joe serves as a sort of musical one-man [[Greek chorus]], and the song, when reprised, comments on the action, as if saying, "This has happened, but the river keeps rolling on anyway."{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

The song is notable for several aspects: the lyrical [[Pentatonic scale|pentatonic-scale]] melody, the subjects of toil and [[social class]], the metaphor to the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]], and as a [[bass (vocal range)|bass]] solo (rare in musicals, solos for [[baritone]]s or [[tenor]]s being more common).

[[Paul Whiteman|Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra]] had a hit recording of the song in early 1928, in a much faster tempo than Kern and Hammerstein intended, featuring [[Bing Crosby]] on vocals and [[Bix Beiderbecke]] on cornet.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Bing Crosby Discography|url=http://www.bingmagazine.co.uk/bingmagazine/crosby1a.html|website=BING magazine|publisher=International Club Crosby|access-date=April 30, 2017}}</ref>  A second version was recorded on March 1, with Paul Whiteman and his Concert Orchestra and [[Bass (voice type)|bass singer]] [[Paul Robeson]] on vocals, sung in a dance tempo. The latter was inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]] in 2006, and a 1936 rendition by Robeson also finished No. 24 in [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs]] 2004 survey of top tunes in American cinema. Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2023/|title=Public Domain Day 2023 &#124; Duke University School of Law|website=web.law.duke.edu}}</ref>