On the Rhino Records release of the Show Boat soundtrack, William Warfield's reprise of "Ol' Man River" is presented without the chorus because (if I remember what the liner notes said) the vocal loops with the chorus didn't survive. That might make a nice comparison video.
Critics of Sinatra can drop dead. However this song belongs to Paul Robeson. Not just because of his voice, but because black people were slaves in America's deep South. When Oscar Hammerstein 2nd wrote these words, he was writing about the river and not the slavery. Jerome Kern's melody is priceless
