"Ol' Man River" is a song featured in the 1951 film Show Boat with music composed by Jerome Kern and lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. In the song, a hardworking stevedore named Joe (William Warfield) acknowledges the slow, steady flow of the Mississippi River and notes its indifference to the hardships of life, particularly for Black Americans.
Lyrics[]
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
You don't das make the boss man frown
Bend your knees and bow your head
And pull that rope until your 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
Ol' man river, that ol' man river
He don't say nothin', but he must know somethin'
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, are soon forgotten
But ol' man river, just keeps rollin' along
You and me, we sweat and strain
Body all achin' and racked with pain
Tote that barge and lift that bail
You get a little drunk and you lands in jail
Ah gits weary, an' sick of tryin'
Ah'm tired of livin',
An' skeered of dyin'
But ol' man river, he jes' keeps rollin' along
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