Thank you for the background of this song. I like the 1963 performance by Judy Garland on live TV (on youtube). It looks a huge audience and she seems nervous (downright twitchy) when she first walks out and starts singing. By the time she sings that she's weary and tired of living you believe her. This isn't her prettiest singing but it must have been an electric experience for the audience. At a time with TV was still in its childhood, the production is very good-- black and white can be better than color, and the close-up on her face toward the end of the song enhances the effect of the words.
Debra, I believe that the 1951 movie did not include all the lyrics of the song....those having to do with the "white folks play, black folks work" that were in the earlier film version. Doing this from memory although I assume that YouTube has both versions.
I like both film versions but prefer the MGM 1951 production. I did a deep dive on the music on WKHR 91.5 last year.
John, there were a lot of changes to the lyrics over the years. I chose this clip from 1936 because it is the film which Robeson starred in. But he also changed the lyrics when he performed it subsequently. MGM was pumping out great musicals in the 1950's, and they had a tremendous cast for "Showboat." Howard Keel is just amazing in it!
I have deep respect for Mr. and Mrs. teams and Paul and I were the same in our pro-life work. He is in a better place now but I sincerely appreciate COUPLES' EFFORTS! Blessings to both of you.
Aw, thank you, Judie! Word & Song is indeed a team project for us. Tony and I met in graduate school (English, of course), and I taught literature at Providence College for about 15 years. We are enjoying doing a literary project together. Throughout our marriage, but particularly in our early years, we came greatly to appreciate our older married friends, and always drew great inspiration from those "teams."
Like Mr. Burke I think the presentation of the song in its reprise in the 1951 version is magnificent. That last scene of Ava Gardner is so memorable in its beautiful shot of the boat leaving the dock at sunset.
One thing that's certain is that this song MAKES the play/film. Can you imagine any production without it? I was amazed to learn that it wasn't a part of the original score (for the play), and that Oscar Hammerstein just imagined doing the opening number, "Cotton Blossom" by reversing the order of the notes and slowing the resulting tune down. What genius! And from that moment the song took its place as the controlling theme of the production, and is reprised four times throughout. The song does indeed stand the test of time.
Haha. I got a few likes and I suddenly seem to have recovered my speech!
I was reflecting... ..This song basically tells the story of slavery in America. The slave works at the behest of the white man while the white man benefits, "plays." The slave knows the master is a tyrant---"don't look up, don't look down," that slavery is inherently wrong. Yet the slave is a Christian just like the whites. The river he really wants to cross is the Jordan, just like every other Christian. He is a human just like the white man and like all humanity he suffers.
In light of this song being in a hit musical in the 20s/30s, it just doesn't make sense to say that Americans have not confronted the race issue. Whether we --and here I mean both blacks and whites---have solved the problem completely or in the finest way, we have confronted it.
Best yet is that a black man sings the song. And in a triumphal manner.
One key feature in the history of American popular music of the 20th century is that the input of black musicians and musical styles was pretty much the catalyst for the great flowering that happened. When Scott Joplin (classically trained) invented ragtime music, everything changed. Spirituals had made their way firmly into the canon of American folk music. Jazz was already happening, but was localized at first. Then boy, did it "make the scene" in a big way, and its adoption by people like Benny Goodman and the other big bands just cleared the decks for more and more great black musicians and singers to make their way onto the air waves and into homes across the land -- and across the pond. The music played a big part in breaking down the barriers of segregation, though attitudes -- and laws, even -- were harder to change. What was simultaneously going on was the influx of Jews, most often with immigrant background and families fleeing pogroms (Irving Berlin was one of these). People have observed that those immigrant Jews knew from persecution and degradation -- and this was long before the Nazis made that into an end game of their regime. So you really can't discuss American music from turn-of-the-century and following without acknowledging how big a role it played in bringing us to a better place than we had been beforehand, at least in that one concrete way. How we got from there to where we are now is I think a long sad tale.
Dear Judie -- Thank you -- but this one's DEBRA'S work -- she's always the one doing "Sometimes a Song." I think it's the highlight of every week ... And she also finds all the links and the art and the musical renditions for the other days, too. It's a regular Mr. and Mrs. Team we've got!
It is, indeed. And yes about Wodehouse. I don't quite know how I missed it that he was a lyricist for the musical theater in London in the early part of the 20th century. All of these fellows were young together and in on something big. Frank Sinatra called the mid-century music which gave us the Great American Songbook "the classical music" of the 20th century. And he meant it.
Ha ha, Mark Steyn knows his stuff on this music. I am a little hesitant to listen to his work right now because I fear that my lobservations would pale by comparison. But I am mighty impressed by what he knows about Broadway. So many stories and such talent in that great epoch in American music!
Thanks for sharing this! It look interesting…we occasionally to to the web based radio station that Mark advertises for some good old music and his show, when we can catch it.
“You and me, we sweat and strain,…” perfectly dovetails with the current Word of the Week. William Warfield’s interpretation is also magnificent in MGM’s technicolor version of “Showboat” from 1951.
Ed, I confess that that line settled me on this song choice. I think I must have first heard the song in that MGM production. I watched a lot of musicals on TV growing up. Now I will have to look that one up today!
Thank you for the background of this song. I like the 1963 performance by Judy Garland on live TV (on youtube). It looks a huge audience and she seems nervous (downright twitchy) when she first walks out and starts singing. By the time she sings that she's weary and tired of living you believe her. This isn't her prettiest singing but it must have been an electric experience for the audience. At a time with TV was still in its childhood, the production is very good-- black and white can be better than color, and the close-up on her face toward the end of the song enhances the effect of the words.
Debra, I believe that the 1951 movie did not include all the lyrics of the song....those having to do with the "white folks play, black folks work" that were in the earlier film version. Doing this from memory although I assume that YouTube has both versions.
I like both film versions but prefer the MGM 1951 production. I did a deep dive on the music on WKHR 91.5 last year.
John, there were a lot of changes to the lyrics over the years. I chose this clip from 1936 because it is the film which Robeson starred in. But he also changed the lyrics when he performed it subsequently. MGM was pumping out great musicals in the 1950's, and they had a tremendous cast for "Showboat." Howard Keel is just amazing in it!
I have deep respect for Mr. and Mrs. teams and Paul and I were the same in our pro-life work. He is in a better place now but I sincerely appreciate COUPLES' EFFORTS! Blessings to both of you.
Aw, thank you, Judie! Word & Song is indeed a team project for us. Tony and I met in graduate school (English, of course), and I taught literature at Providence College for about 15 years. We are enjoying doing a literary project together. Throughout our marriage, but particularly in our early years, we came greatly to appreciate our older married friends, and always drew great inspiration from those "teams."
Like Mr. Burke I think the presentation of the song in its reprise in the 1951 version is magnificent. That last scene of Ava Gardner is so memorable in its beautiful shot of the boat leaving the dock at sunset.
One thing that's certain is that this song MAKES the play/film. Can you imagine any production without it? I was amazed to learn that it wasn't a part of the original score (for the play), and that Oscar Hammerstein just imagined doing the opening number, "Cotton Blossom" by reversing the order of the notes and slowing the resulting tune down. What genius! And from that moment the song took its place as the controlling theme of the production, and is reprised four times throughout. The song does indeed stand the test of time.
Wonderful
Nancy
So glad you enjoyed it!
Haha. I got a few likes and I suddenly seem to have recovered my speech!
I was reflecting... ..This song basically tells the story of slavery in America. The slave works at the behest of the white man while the white man benefits, "plays." The slave knows the master is a tyrant---"don't look up, don't look down," that slavery is inherently wrong. Yet the slave is a Christian just like the whites. The river he really wants to cross is the Jordan, just like every other Christian. He is a human just like the white man and like all humanity he suffers.
In light of this song being in a hit musical in the 20s/30s, it just doesn't make sense to say that Americans have not confronted the race issue. Whether we --and here I mean both blacks and whites---have solved the problem completely or in the finest way, we have confronted it.
Best yet is that a black man sings the song. And in a triumphal manner.
One key feature in the history of American popular music of the 20th century is that the input of black musicians and musical styles was pretty much the catalyst for the great flowering that happened. When Scott Joplin (classically trained) invented ragtime music, everything changed. Spirituals had made their way firmly into the canon of American folk music. Jazz was already happening, but was localized at first. Then boy, did it "make the scene" in a big way, and its adoption by people like Benny Goodman and the other big bands just cleared the decks for more and more great black musicians and singers to make their way onto the air waves and into homes across the land -- and across the pond. The music played a big part in breaking down the barriers of segregation, though attitudes -- and laws, even -- were harder to change. What was simultaneously going on was the influx of Jews, most often with immigrant background and families fleeing pogroms (Irving Berlin was one of these). People have observed that those immigrant Jews knew from persecution and degradation -- and this was long before the Nazis made that into an end game of their regime. So you really can't discuss American music from turn-of-the-century and following without acknowledging how big a role it played in bringing us to a better place than we had been beforehand, at least in that one concrete way. How we got from there to where we are now is I think a long sad tale.
Once again, Mr. Esolen goes to the heart of the matter. Ol' Man River, sung by Robeson, is a masterpiece. Thank you!
Oops! I see that the default setting put Tony's byline on my essay! Fixed that! I absolutely love Paul Robeson's version of the song, too.
Dear Judie -- Thank you -- but this one's DEBRA'S work -- she's always the one doing "Sometimes a Song." I think it's the highlight of every week ... And she also finds all the links and the art and the musical renditions for the other days, too. It's a regular Mr. and Mrs. Team we've got!
Thank you for this information! I always learn so much. Again, this is a song I heard and memorized from our record of it in the early 50’s.
Flummoxed, floored, and astonied I am! Magnificent voice, song, story. And P. G. Wodehouse was involved with American showtunes at some point?!
But. I hope the sound of that singing stays in my heart all day. Puts me in mind of the gentleman who sang Moriah.
Also, I confess to being baffled by the whole concept of 'inverted notes.'.
But for today, yes. Tired of living, scared of dying. It sounds so much better set to music.🥰
A Harve Presnell sort of voice, is what I meant to say. And this: what a splendid thing it is, to hear manly voices raised in song.🙏
It is, indeed. And yes about Wodehouse. I don't quite know how I missed it that he was a lyricist for the musical theater in London in the early part of the 20th century. All of these fellows were young together and in on something big. Frank Sinatra called the mid-century music which gave us the Great American Songbook "the classical music" of the 20th century. And he meant it.
Wow. What a song. What lyrics. What a voice. I’m rendered speechless.
Thank you for this! Y’all might like this recent Hillsdale talk by Mark Steyn on the history of broadway, featuring a lot of Kern:
https://freedomlibrary.hillsdale.edu/programs/cca-iv-the-american-musical/american-musicals-and-the-great-american-songbook?utm_campaign=ea_15min&utm_medium=youtube&utm_source=youtube&utm_content=Steyn
Thank you so much for this link. I missed these talks and didn’t know how to access them. Much appreciated.
Ha ha, Mark Steyn knows his stuff on this music. I am a little hesitant to listen to his work right now because I fear that my lobservations would pale by comparison. But I am mighty impressed by what he knows about Broadway. So many stories and such talent in that great epoch in American music!
Thanks for sharing this! It look interesting…we occasionally to to the web based radio station that Mark advertises for some good old music and his show, when we can catch it.
“You and me, we sweat and strain,…” perfectly dovetails with the current Word of the Week. William Warfield’s interpretation is also magnificent in MGM’s technicolor version of “Showboat” from 1951.
Ed, I confess that that line settled me on this song choice. I think I must have first heard the song in that MGM production. I watched a lot of musicals on TV growing up. Now I will have to look that one up today!