“Ol' Man River”

Cultural  

1. A song from the musical Show Boat; the river is the Mississippi River. The music to “Ol' Man River” is by Jerome Kern and the words by Oscar Hammerstein II; it was memorably sung by Paul Robeson.

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“Ol' Man River”

For a long time, “Ol’ Man River” became the go-to American art song for concert singers, but it also has a rich history of jazz and swing interpretations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

The following year, Peluso starred in the 2016 West End revival of “Show Boat,” a musical he had connected with — particularly its song “Ol’ Man River” — when he was a young actor.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2023

His version of “Ol’ Man River” punctuates a homage to Paul Robeson with anarchic howls; he tears into Clarence Carter’s hit “Strokin’” and struts through Tom Waits’s “Whistling Past the Graveyard.”

From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2018

“Ol’ Man River” is most closely associated with the stentorian African-American singer, actor, and activist Paul Robeson.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 17, 2015

But while there are haunting references to “Ol’ Man River” and, naturally, the blues, the guitarist ultimately realized it was pointless to trot out all these genres, textbook-style.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 1, 2013