Overview

A Broadway classic, a call to action, and an incredibly malleable popular song, ""Ol' Man River"" is not your typical musical theater standard. Written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in the 1920s for Show Boat, ""Ol Man River"" perfectly blends two seemingly incongruous traits-the gravity of a Negro spiritual and the crowd-pleasing power of a Broadway anthem. Inspired by the voice of African American singer Paul Robeson, who adopted the tune for his own goals as an activist, ""Ol' Man River"" is both iconic and transformative. In Who Should Sing ""Ol' Man River""? The Lives of an American Song, author Todd Decker examines how the song has shaped, and been shaped by, the African American experience. Yet ""Ol' Man River"" also transcends both its genre and original conception as a song written for an African American male. Beyond musical theater, this Broadway ballad has been reworked in musical genres from pop to jazz, opera to doo wop, rhythm and blues to gospel to reggae. Pop singers such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland made ""Ol' Man River"" one of their signature songs. Jazz artists such as Bix Biederbecke, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Count Basie, and Keith Jarrett have all played ""Ol' Man River,"" as have stars of the rock and roll era, such as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, Cher, and Rod Stewart. Black or white, male or female-anyone who sings ""Ol' Man River"" must confront and consider its charged racial content and activist history. Performers and fans of musical theater as well as students of the Civil Rights movement will find Who Should Sing ""Ol' Man River"" an unprecedented examination of a song that's played a groundbreaking role in American history.

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9780199389186

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Reviews

Todd Decker's Who Should Sing 'Ol' Man River'? is an eloquent and moving work charting the performance history of one of America's greatest and most controversial songs. Lyrically written and persuasively argued, the book transports the reader through a kaleidoscope of performers from Paul Robeson to Ray Charles, female and male, black and white, who wanted to make the song their own. Read about and listen to the performances with enormous pleasure but make no mistake this book is as much about the 'singing of the American experience of race' as it is about the song. --JORDAN GOODMAN, author of Paul Robeson: A Watched Man A deep, wide, and thoroughly fascinating history of one of America's greatest songs, with surprises around every bend. --JAMES KAPLAN, author of Frank: The Voice [N]ot just an appraisal or critique, but a genuine conversation about the art of interpretation. --Riffs, Beats, & Codas

"""Todd Decker's Who Should Sing 'Ol' Man River'? is an eloquent and moving work charting the performance history of one of America's greatest and most controversial songs. Lyrically written and persuasively argued, the book transports the reader through a kaleidoscope of performers from Paul Robeson to Ray Charles, female and male, black and white, who wanted to make the song their own. Read about and listen to the performances with enormous pleasure but make no mistake this book is as much about the 'singing of the American experience of race' as it is about the song."" --JORDAN GOODMAN, author of Paul Robeson: A Watched Man ""A deep, wide, and thoroughly fascinating history of one of America's greatest songs, with surprises around every bend."" --JAMES KAPLAN, author of Frank: The Voice ""[N]ot just an appraisal or critique, but a genuine conversation about the art of interpretation."" --Riffs, Beats, & Codas ""Decker's keen understanding of the song rewards readers with not just the legacy of Paul Robeson's 'Ol' Man River' but also an entire cross-section of American artistic achievement...Contributing to our understanding of the black experience and music's reflection of change, Who Should Sing 'Ol' Man River'? traces the wide breadth, if not the depth, of this meaningful song over time with layers of history, genre, and reception."" -- Popular Music and Society ""This book will be a delight for those who are fascinated by ""Ol' Man River,"" those who are interested in the history of the performance and recordings of popular music...Decker provides abundant materials related to the song and shows us how one song can be interpreted and perceived differently by performers and audiences of varied racial backgrounds.""--Notes"

Todd Decker's Who Should Sing 'Ol' Man River'? is an eloquent and moving work charting the performance history of one of America's greatest and most controversial songs. Lyrically written and persuasively argued, the book transports the reader through a kaleidoscope of performers from Paul Robeson to Ray Charles, female and male, black and white, who wanted to make the song their own. Read about and listen to the performances with enormous pleasure but make no mistake this book is as much about the 'singing of the American experience of race' as it is about the song. --JORDAN GOODMAN, author of Paul Robeson: A Watched Man A deep, wide, and thoroughly fascinating history of one of America's greatest songs, with surprises around every bend. --JAMES KAPLAN, author of Frank: The Voice

Author Information

Todd Decker is Associate Professor of Music at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical (Oxford, 2013) and Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz (2011, winner of the Best First Book Award from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies). He has lectured widely on American music, including at the Library of Congress, and his articles have appeared in Music, Sound and the Moving Image, The Journal of Musicology, Daedalus, and Contemporary Theatre Review.

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