Ol' Man River by Paul Robeson (remastered 1936 recording, MP3)

Ol' Man River' is a song from the 1927 American musical Show Boat about the toil and tribulation of African-Americans set against the backdrop of the Mississippi River. The narrative is told from the point of view of a black stevedore on a showboat, a floating theatre that travelled along the Mississippi (the "ol' man river") This version was performed by the baritone singer Paul Robeson (1898 – 1976), who was also a lawyer and civil rights activist. It is a Marine Café Blog remaster of the 1936 78rpm recording published in the Internet Archive. (4.3 MiB, MP3, 2:31 minutes)

Read ‘Ol Man River and the pain of being black in America, a review of the song.

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