Paul Robeson one of the greatest singing voices the world has ever known. This recording is a gigantic gift that fills my eyes with tears, as I try hard not to blink.
Paul Robeson visited and performed in CCCP,Russia,and got banned by USA....Because he was considdered a Communist by the USA....Sad and the Movie SHOWBOAT 1936 Is still one of the most beloved Movies.....Old Man River....sung by Paul Robeson 1936.....
It fills with tears the eyes of any sensitive people, I’d say. I’ve heard that Kathleen Ferrier had to leave the hall because she couldn’t stop crying.
A man who loved people, supported the working man AND sang the Welsh National anthem, to Welsh Miners - his respect for all human beings is something special.
He seems to have been erased from history. An organized campaign to keep people from knowing about him. Because he stood for worker rights all over the world, included the USSR, he was labeled a communist agitator and blacklisted, his passport taken away effectively kept out of the public consciousness. Even with black people. Rosa Parks is known by every one but her actual accomplishment pales in comparison to a Robeson 25 years earlier. Shameful.
It is a tragedy of history that Paul had to sing these songs and make us weep for what should have been. To be of color and get even this much fame is the mark of an extraordinary man. Such was Paul Robeson.
Pure royalty from head to toe. I've commented on this man ceaselessly but his talent is everlasting. There will never be another Paul Robeson. The most impossibly gifted man since Adam and Eve.
By 1960 he had many miles on that voice and was no longer young. What a great human he was. Brilliant athlete, lawyer, singer and actor and a nearly forgotten pioneer of civil and human rights long before MLK . There should be a holiday and streets named after him.
As a footnote to this great man's life. the world sadly will never know how great (or otherwise) he would have been on the operatic stage. If the roles we carefully studied beforehand I believe he would have been .brilliant. Mozart, Donizetti, Puccini, Verdi, Strauss, the lot. We can only imagine.
Wonderful to see this new footage of the greatest of men , thank you so much. All the the red baieters and McCarthyites are long forgotten but Paul's legacy lives on to inspire us all.
I managed to get the apprentice to watch this in work, 18 year old thinks of the spice girls as oldies music started of laughing that I listen to this stuff than about a minute in her jaw was hitting the floor, "omg his speaking voice" , than she was crying during Going Home. "is there anyone else like him?" "No, he's a one off"
This is absolutely fantastic!! Paul Robeson has been my favorite male singer since I was 15, and I've hardly ever seen him perform live, and never with good audio quality. I practically jumped when I saw this. Thank you for posting!
Paul Robeson and Harry Belafonte were great human beings. I trust that we may see their like again in these dreadful times - men of courage helping us see the injustices of our system.
Met Mr Robeson as a Toddler maybe 3 years old during the Black List period , sadly I don’t remember Mr Robeson , performing in the Bay Area in Churches small Auditoriums after Big Paul performance my Dad took him to The Airport in San Francisco I went along for the ride probably sitting in Robeson lap
Singing even deeper than I remember & just as memorable. By this time nature had taken its toll because of his age & the suffering he went through for his political positions & beliefs. But he compensates here by his charisma & more comfortable vocal keys due to the likely narrowing of his singing range. Robeson remains a national treasure & an unjustly vilified one.
Astonishing. that voice got better, more expressive and deeper with age. But its only fair to note that in concerts and recording post 1938, he altered the character and tone behind 'ol man river' when he altered the lyrics of Hammerstein in several lines to suit his admittedly admirable agenda of avoiding what he saw as negative stereotypes of the American black man sitting in the lyrics as written. It was not written as an uplifting number, full of hope as performed here. It was a bit of a downer with Joe feeling trapped in his role dominated and predetermined by his white oppressors. Joe the dock worker also tended to drink spirits after a tough day.
Not a saint, but a giant and a hero. Amazing how such a voice could be smothered by the forces in power. He was too big a fish not to get caught in whatever the net was in his day-a big fish, a giant talent, larger than life-What chance did he have amongst the small people?
"Old Man River", the words were changed quite a bit from the 1936 movie version. What next, a white guy singing the song with whiteys toting the barges and lifting the bails?
@@doughoffman9463 I agree that the original was great. However, I guess Robeson intended to highlight the struggles of him and his people by altering the lyrics to a more rebellious version. To me it seems as if he is trying to show that he is not complacent, but is instead standing up for himself and speaking his mind. Also the new lyrics would have been considered not as politically correct as the original.
