Ol' Man River
"Ol' Man River" (music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II) is a song in the 1927 musical Show Boat that tells the story of African American hardship and struggles at the time. The most famous version of this song was sung by Paul Robeson. A parody version was performed on CBS Radio by Stan Freberg and Daws Butler circa 1960, entitled "Elderly Man River." The parody lampooned what would today be termed "political correctness" by featuring a prudish censor from the "Citizen's Radio Board" who repeatedly interrupts Freberg's performance of the song to criticize (and insist on changes on) the grammar and appropriateness of the song's lyrics.
|
|
