Oh dear, I forgot to post music today, but will do a rare evening post to fill that lacuna.
This is my favorite song of the genre that used to be called “Negro spirituals”; I notice that Wikipedia calls it “an anonymous spiritual of African American origin.” Regardless, it’s beautiful, and this rendition, by Paul Robeson, sometimes makes me tear up.
Paul Robeson (1897-1976) was a hero of mine: a fiercely smart and dedicated black man who fought both racial and political prejudice (he was a Communist) to become an accomplished college athlete and scholar, to earn a law degree, and, eventually, to become a well known actor and singer. But he never got his propers, for he was forced to play stereotypical black characters in substandard movies, and was blacklisted and hounded by the U.S. government during the McCarthy era. He was a proud man, and never backed down or was cowed by his mistreatment. He had a tough life and attempted suicide once.
His voice is, to me, the most beautiful of all male bass instruments, and it’s wonderfully displayed in this song from the movie “The Proud Valley” (1940). He’s backed by a Welsh chorus.
If you want more, his “Old Man River” from the movie “Showboat” is fantastic.
He sure had a voice!
His Old Man River is a favourite of mine. My father was a great admirer of Robeson and told me the story of his trials and tribulations when I was quite young.
Make that Ol’ Man River.
I seem to remember, probably from some Radio 4 programme, that Robeson was really big -and welcomed – in the valleys of Wales; perhaps someone can fill in the details. What a voice.
…and thinking of revolutionary singers (despite Robeson’s dodgy Stalinist connections) this reminds me of the rather beautiful story which my Estonian ex-sister-in-law and fellow-band member, Eva, told me.
Around 1990, when the Iron Curtain was drooping, an Estonian radio station organised a singing picnic on the Estonian-Russian border to protest at Russian domination of their land. Thousands turned out to sit along the frontier, tune in to their radio and sing along to national folk-songs – and the Estonians have as strong a singing tradition as the Welsh.
Eva, a teenager, went along with her family and friends, worried that the tanks might roll in; nothing happened except an al fresco a cappella in the eastern Mitteleuropa forests.
Estonia was free of Soviet domination soon after.
btw. it’s called ‘The Singing Revolution’.
What a lovely story!
Thanks you!
The South Wales valleys were strongly socialist more or less throughout the 20th century. While Robeson was appearing in the West End in the late 1920s, he met a group of Welsh miners, protesting against the conditions of the working poor, and made common cause with them. Prior to WW2, he would appear in many benefits for the miners and other left-wing causes.
After WW2, when Robeson had his passport revoked, there was a “Let Paul Robeson Sing” campaign in south Wales, and he was invited to perform in the Eisteddfod (a cultural festival), every year from 1950 to 1957. This culminated in him “appearing” by singing over the phone from New York in 1957. This may or may not have had an impact on the Supreme Court’s subsequent decision to overturn his travel ban.
The next year, he came to Wales and performed at the Eisteddfod itself. He there made history in another way, being the first person ever to be allowed to be granted permission to speak in English (not Welsh) on the Eisteddfod stage.
He famously played “Othello,” and you can still hear him speaking Othello’s last soliloquy,
He also recorded “Ballad for Americans,” which reflected his dreams for what America could be – and is still very much available. I have both of these and much more on my iPad.
He was the first Black to enroll at Rutgers, joined the football team as an End, was harassed for his race. When he graduated he had lettered in multiple sports and his classmates elected him valedictorian. He was denied a passport during the McCarthy era, and since most of his employment was in England and Europe — because of racial discrimination in the U.S. — his income plummeted. By then he & his wife Essie had several sons. I heard him sing in a Park in Chicago, standing so close to him I could have touched him. He didn’t just sing, he identified with the character whose song he was singing, He was a courageous and talented and accomplished human being, and he was dealt with very badly by those who should have admired him.
It’s always sad when someone is born before their time. Think of what he would’ve done today!
Think of what he did in his own time! Believe me, during WW II he captivated the whole country with “Ballad for Americans” and other songs, such as “Deep River” and his beautiful “Old Man River,” sung in his basso profundo voice. He was the first African-American to perform Othello in the U.S. (Another Black actor had played the role earlier in London.) He was not born before his time – he changed the perception of Black performers from silly minstrel shows (whose “Black” performers were whites in blackface) and jazz trumpeters to accomplished athletes and intellectuals and performers of “serious” music. (Actually, jazz is “serious” music but it was not so considered then.)Heroes all too often find themselves persecuted because they lead the way and disrupt the status quo. And he left a powerful legacy of music and dignity and self-respect There were many who loved and cherished him — and championed him — even during the McCarthy era. What is more, his successful fight to recover his passport established a valuable precedent. It took time, but he won the case & that helped others who had also been denied passports.
Well that was all great for everyone else but not so much for him. He actually had to fight to sir with white folks. If he had that same temerity today to fight and succeed he probably would’ve been happier.
I know I feel out of my time. Even with the progress we’ve made there are times I come home and cry because of unfairness in the boys club. He went through much worse.
Another great leader and role model. I will tell my wife (teacher) about this (I didn’t know, thanks).
I love this song too. I have sung a few different arrangements, it’s beautiful.
For many years, Rutgers University, Paul Robeson’s alma mater (and mine) refused to recognize him in any substantive way, but eventually dedicated the Paul Robeson Campus Center at the Newark campus after him and on the Camden campus there is the Paul Robeson Library. There may be other buildings dedicated to him that I don’t know about.
Robeson was an all-American athlete as well, in several sports, not just football, and Phi Beta Kappa and class valedictorian.
Jerome Kern wrote Ol’ Man River specifically for Robeson. Robeson’s run as Othello still holds the record for the longest running Shakespeare on Broadway.
I totally agree with Jerry – his bass voice is perhaps the best to ever come along.
RU-New Brunswick has a Paul Robeson Cultural Center on the Busch campus.
If you want another rendition of the song, try Heifetz: http://goo.gl/xltkhL
Thanks, very nice. Very soulful.
The River Jordan was a code for the Ohio River, and crossing over wasn’t about campground (?) but about Ohio, and then on to Canada.
I wish you could have heard him sing “My Father Was a Spanish Captain,” in which the refrain is “oh no, John; no, John, no.” He played both “roles” and was gently hilarious. This huge man, turning into a dainty lady – with dignity — in song. He had a sense of humor, too. I played his lullabies for put my children when they were babies in the mid-late ’60s & my daughter plays his songs for her children. He would have made a great Boris Gudonov.
oh nuts – I want to remove the “put” in the above post. Bother
sub
I never tire of listening to Robeson’s rendition of ‘Joe Hill’. Superb.
There may be some readers of WEIT who haven’t yet mined the Internet Archive
for its many treasures. Here’s a sample:-
Paul-Robeson-collection-111-120
http://archive.org/details/Paul-Robeson-collection-111-120
Jazz fans would appreciate this page.
Welcome to The David W. Niven Collection of Early Jazz Legends, 1921-1991
http://archive.org/details/davidwnivenjazz
I’ve enjoyed streaming a good number of tracks. (There’s just too many to think of
downloading all of the offerings.)
Wonderful sir. Fits perfectly in the folk thread of recent music posts.
If you like “Deep River” try listening to the whole of “Child of our Time” from Tippet, absolutely beutiful. Tippet was a great composor and contemporary of Britten, a truly ethereal composer.
Beautiful, Prof. C. Thank you.
I am proud to say that one of my aunts (who fairly recently passed at age 104) worked with Robeson in the Communist Party. He’d sit on her apartment floor, as there were more people than chairs, at such meetings. Robeson was treated so very badly, but he remains strong in our memories, perhaps like Joe Hill.