Paul Robeson - Old Man River video free download


701,482
Duration: 02:10
Uploaded: 2008/04/24

The words of Old Man River were (thankfully) to change many times since the original version was written by Hammerstein and Kerr. The first line "Niggers all work on the Mississippi etc" moved on to "Darkies all work..." and eventually through being "The old Man I'd like to be" it eventually became "The Old Man I don't like to be". Sidney Poitier explains other changes within the song.

Comments

8 years ago

Jeanne-Gwenaëlle Pagnon

The voice !

9 years ago

Achille Signoriello

canto patrimonio MONDIALE

9 years ago

Adilson Coelho

EXCELENTE !!!

9 years ago

Nolens Volens

If a musician is singing or playing an instrument but cannot hear themselves as they are performing they cannot, in this case for example, control their voice due to the lack of what are called monitor speakers. Monitor speakers are speakers aimed back at the musicians / singer so they can hear themselves over the did not the music / noise.For example, try to sing your favorite song out loud while in the midst of a lot of ambient noise, You will find it virtually impossible to sing it properly: in tune and with proper volume. In this case, Mr. Robeson does not have the luxury of monitor speakers so he must cup his ear so he can hear his own voice as it is coming from his mouth so properly regulate the words and tone .

9 years ago

BetitoBrown

Can someone please tell me why some folks put their hand over their ear like Paul Robeson did in this video? I've seen singers, voice actors, etc. do it and I do not know why. 

9 years ago

dave Drolett

Mr. Robeson; One of the original stars of J. Kern's 1936 Showboat.

9 years ago

Sammi Previtera

BRAVO!!!!

9 years ago

Jon Effemey

Just try and find Paul Robeson as a singer on Face Book and you wont find him, well not the last time I tried, a disgrace! one of the greatest singers of the 20th Century!As for everything else, we are looking back through time, and being British I have a different take on all of this anyway. From what I know he stood up for the oppressed, no easy matter then.But his voice was really something else.

9 years ago

Yehuda Seri

זמר ענק, שיר עם הרבה זכרונות.

9 years ago

Wideador

Not bad.....not bad at all...

10 years ago

Melina Mercouri

Hermosa voz, un gran cantante.

10 years ago

Pinkie Pie

Chocolate rain

10 years ago

Meevious

Fantastic rendition, easily the best I've heard, though Sidney Poitier does his best to ruin it.

10 years ago

Jim Stark

Dude, don't take everything literally. You don't know what "clues" I have, be they slight or non-slight. Besides, your logic is flawed. Robeson was not a Communist BECAUSE he fought "on the side of workers and the oppressed." Many individuals have done that since the beginning of time right up thru today without any of them having anything to do with Communism. Above all, Robeson was an American who rejected American white racism and discrimination.

10 years ago

stanibol

i am white. i don't care what politics swayed Robeson, i think he was the greatest bass ever recorded, and i love how well he sings this song, brings tears.

10 years ago

Aaron Maher

You clearly don't have the slightest clue what communism is, and that's undoubtedly because you've bought into the exact same white, ruling-class propaganda that was used to silence Robeson. Robeson was a communist, because communists fight on the side of workers and the oppressed. In fact, communists fought for the -total- liberation of African Americans even before the Civil War. Read 'Hammer and Hoe' by Robin Kelley or 'Black Liberation and Socialism' by Ahmed Shawki.

10 years ago

jlorrainerocks j

Inability to blend, I say.

10 years ago

Tom Feeney

One great voice and a great man..........and I don't care if he was a Communist, to me he was a great person!

10 years ago

tongolelelena

He was politically active at the wrong time-- many many people would later or today be called"communist" for political activism. Does no one remember the red scare and/or mccarthy???

10 years ago

RedBannerOfThePeople

He was definitely a communist, and proud to be one. And I say good for him.

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