Read more
"Who should sing Ol' man river? : the lives of an American song tells the almost eighty-year performance history of a great popular song. Examining over two hundred recorded and filmed versions of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's classic song, the book reveals the power of performers to remake one popular song into many different guises"--Provided by publisher.
List of contents
- 1. Some Questions for "Ol' Man River"
- 2. Robeson's Revisions
- 3. Ol' Man Rhythm
- 4. Ol' Man Parody
- 5. Ol' Man Easy Listening
- 6. Ol' Man Metaphor
- 7. Sinatra's Way
- 8. The High Season on Records
- 9. The High Season on Television
- 10. Sons and Daughters of Joe
- A Select List of Recorded Versions of "Ol' Man River"
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Index
About the author
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.
Summary
Who Should Sing "Ol' Man River"?: The Lives of an American Song tells the almost eighty-year performance history of a great popular song. Examining over two hundred recorded and filmed versions of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's classic song, the book reveals the power of performers to remake one popular song into many different guises.
Additional text
A deep, wide, and thoroughly fascinating history of one of America's greatest songs, with surprises around every bend.
