Music by | Jerome Kern |
Lyrics by | Oscar Hammerstein II |
Date | 1927 |
Source | Show Boat (musical) |
Publisher | Universal Polygram International |
"Ol' Man River" is a song from the 1927 musical Show Boat. It enumerates the struggles and trials of African-Americans in the time and place of the musical. These are contrasted with the seemingly unworried and ceaseless flowing of the Mississippi river which is at the center of the characters' lives.
Carrie Louise and friend, aka Mary Louise and a frog, audition for The Muppet Show in episode 208 with a parody of this song, "Ol' Man Ribbit."