Lyrics by: Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by: Jerome Kern
Arranged by: Axel Stordahl – Axel Stordahl – Kay Thompson
– Bill Miller
Album Title: The V-Disc, 1943-1947 (disc 2)
From the Show: Show Boat
(1927)
Recorded: 12/3/44 – 4/14/45 – 3/18/46 – 6/5/62 (live
in Paris) – 2/18/63
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<ELONGATED INTRO>
Here we all work 'long the
Mississippi
Here we all work while the white
folk play
Pullin' them boats from the dawn
till sunset
Gettin' no rest till the
judgment day
Don't look up and don't look
down
Ya don't dast make the white
boss frown
Bend your knees and bow your
head
And pull that rope until you're
dead
Let me go 'way from the
Mississippi
Let me go 'way from the white
man boss
Show me that stream called the
River Jordan
That's the old stream that I
long to cross
<END OF INTRO>
Ol' Man River, that Ol' Man
River
He must know somepin', but he
don't say nothin'
He just keeps rollin', he keeps
on rollin' along
He don't plant taters, and he
don't plant cotton
And them what plants 'em is soon
forgotten
But Ol' Man River, jest keeps
rollin' along
You and me, we sweat and strain
Bodies all achin' and wracked
with pain
Tote that barge and lift that
bale
Ya get a little drunk and ya
lands in ja-ail
I gets weary and so sick of
tryin'
I'm tired of livin', but I'm
feared of dyin'
And Ol' Man River, he just keeps
rollin' along