Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
Encyclopedia
"Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" with music by Jerome Kern
, and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
, is one of the most famous songs from their classic 1927 musical play Show Boat
, adapted from Edna Ferber
's novel.
tempo, is sung in the show by several characters, but is most closely associated with the character Julie, the biracial leading lady of the showboat "Cotton Blossom". It is Julie who is first heard singing the song – to Magnolia, the daughter of Cap'n Andy Hawks and his wife Parthenia (Parthy), owners of the show boat. In the musical's plot, the number is supposed to be a song familiar to African-Americans for years, and this provides one of the most dramatic moments in the show. When Queenie, the black cook, comments that it is strange that light-skinned Julie knows the song because only black people sing it, Julie becomes visibly uncomfortable. Later, we learn that this is because Julie is "passing
" as white – she and her white husband are guilty of miscegenation
under the state's law.
Immediately after Julie sings the song through once, Queenie chimes in with her own lyrics to it, and she is joined by her husband Joe, the black stevedore
on the boat. This is followed by Julie, Queenie, Magnolia, Joe, and the black chorus all performing a song-and-dance to the number.
, as Magnolia and riverboat gambler Gaylord Ravenal enter a local church to get married.
The song makes one last appearance in Act II of the show, when Magnolia uses it as an audition piece while trying to get a job as a singer in the Trocadero nightclub after Ravenal has deserted her. From backstage, Julie, now the featured star there after having been forced to leave the show boat by the local sheriff, hears Magnolia sing the song. Now an alcoholic as a result of having been abandoned by her own husband, Julie secretly quits her job so that the manager, in dire need of a singer for New Year's Eve, will have no choice but to hire Magnolia.
Helen Morgan
, who played Julie in the original 1927 stage production of Show Boat, as well as the 1932 revival and the 1936 film version
. While Morgan was alive, she "owned" the song as much as Judy Garland
owned "Over the Rainbow
" (from The Wizard of Oz
). However, Morgan died prematurely in 1941, her recordings are seldom played or reissued today, her films are infrequently seen, and the 1936 film version of Show Boat was taken completely out of circulation in 1942 to make way for MGM's 1951 remake
which featured Ava Gardner
as Julie (with singing dubbed by Annette Warren). Therefore, modern audiences unfamiliar with the 1936 film have most likely never heard Helen Morgan's performance of the song. Another singer who had a big hit with it was Lena Horne
, who sang it in the Jerome Kern
biopic Till the Clouds Roll By
, and could have easily played Julie in MGM's Show Boat had the studio not been nervous about casting her in the role.
The words of the song emphasize an intense love, regardless of his money or accomplishment, as a force of nature likened to fish born to swim, or birds driven to Within the play, the song is introduced as mixed along with the dialog:
Later verses lament that when he goes away, she is sad until he returns.
" (also from Show Boat) because of some phrases, though its lyrics have caused less of an uproar because the "offensive" portion is sung not by Julie but by Queenie, and is therefore not usually heard outside the show. In her section of the song, Queenie sings about Joe:
This lyric was included in every production of Show Boat up until 1966, except for the 1951 film version, in which this section of the song was simply omitted. In the 1966 Lincoln Center production of the show, produced during the height of the Civil Rights
era, this part of the lyric was completely rewritten by an uncredited writer to avoid any controversy, and it has remained that way ever since - except in the now-famous EMI
3-CD album set of Show Boat, released in 1988. The revised lyric went:
The 1951 film version of Show Boat went even one step further than the 1966 stage revival in "smoothing out" any "edginess" about the song, by omitting all reference to it as one sung for years by African-Americans and thereby omitting the section in which Queenie remarks that it is strange for Julie to know the song. In the 1951 film, the song is simply a love song Julie sings about her husband Steve, not a folk tune. Lena Horne also sings it this way in Till the Clouds Roll By.
, in his song "Pollution", uses the line "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly". Another song of his, She's My Girl, begins with "Shark
s gotta swim, and bat
s gotta fly, I gotta love one woman till I die."
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. begins mankind's Sisyphean curse in Cat's Cradle
with the lines "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly," ending instead with "man gotta sit and wonder why? why? why?"
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
, and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
, is one of the most famous songs from their classic 1927 musical play Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
, adapted from Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
's novel.
Context
The song, written in a bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
tempo, is sung in the show by several characters, but is most closely associated with the character Julie, the biracial leading lady of the showboat "Cotton Blossom". It is Julie who is first heard singing the song – to Magnolia, the daughter of Cap'n Andy Hawks and his wife Parthenia (Parthy), owners of the show boat. In the musical's plot, the number is supposed to be a song familiar to African-Americans for years, and this provides one of the most dramatic moments in the show. When Queenie, the black cook, comments that it is strange that light-skinned Julie knows the song because only black people sing it, Julie becomes visibly uncomfortable. Later, we learn that this is because Julie is "passing
Passing (racial identity)
Racial passing refers to a person classified as a member of one racial group attempting to be accepted as a member of a different racial group...
" as white – she and her white husband are guilty of miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
under the state's law.
Immediately after Julie sings the song through once, Queenie chimes in with her own lyrics to it, and she is joined by her husband Joe, the black stevedore
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
on the boat. This is followed by Julie, Queenie, Magnolia, Joe, and the black chorus all performing a song-and-dance to the number.
Repeated during Show Boat
The last refrain of the song is briefly reprised at the end of the first act by the ensembleEnsemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
, as Magnolia and riverboat gambler Gaylord Ravenal enter a local church to get married.
The song makes one last appearance in Act II of the show, when Magnolia uses it as an audition piece while trying to get a job as a singer in the Trocadero nightclub after Ravenal has deserted her. From backstage, Julie, now the featured star there after having been forced to leave the show boat by the local sheriff, hears Magnolia sing the song. Now an alcoholic as a result of having been abandoned by her own husband, Julie secretly quits her job so that the manager, in dire need of a singer for New Year's Eve, will have no choice but to hire Magnolia.
History of performances
"Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" was extremely associated with 1920s torch singerTorch Singer
Torch Singer is a 1933 film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Alexander Hall and George Somnes, and starring Claudette Colbert, Ricardo Cortez and David Manners and Lyda Roberti.The screenplay was written by Lenore J...
Helen Morgan
Helen Morgan
Helen Morgan was an American singer and actress who worked in films and on the stage. A quintessential torch singer, she made a big splash in the Chicago club scene in the 1920s...
, who played Julie in the original 1927 stage production of Show Boat, as well as the 1932 revival and the 1936 film version
Show Boat (1936 film)
Show Boat is a 1936 film based on the musical play by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II , which the team adapted from the novel by Edna Ferber....
. While Morgan was alive, she "owned" the song as much as Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
owned "Over the Rainbow
Over the Rainbow
"Over the Rainbow" is a classic Academy Award-winning ballad song with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. It was written for the movie The Wizard of Oz, and was sung by Judy Garland in the movie...
" (from The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
). However, Morgan died prematurely in 1941, her recordings are seldom played or reissued today, her films are infrequently seen, and the 1936 film version of Show Boat was taken completely out of circulation in 1942 to make way for MGM's 1951 remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
which featured Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
as Julie (with singing dubbed by Annette Warren). Therefore, modern audiences unfamiliar with the 1936 film have most likely never heard Helen Morgan's performance of the song. Another singer who had a big hit with it was Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
, who sang it in the Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
biopic Till the Clouds Roll By
Till the Clouds Roll By
Till The Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American musical film made by MGM. The film is a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern, who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed...
, and could have easily played Julie in MGM's Show Boat had the studio not been nervous about casting her in the role.
Partial song lyrics
The lyrics are under copyright, but limited portions can be repeated for critical analysis (see educational source for entire song).The words of the song emphasize an intense love, regardless of his money or accomplishment, as a force of nature likened to fish born to swim, or birds driven to Within the play, the song is introduced as mixed along with the dialog:
-
- (JULIE sings...)
- Fish got to swim, birds got to fly,
- I gotta love one man till I die,
- Can't help lovin' dat man of mine.
-
- (MAGNOLIA recognizes the song):
- That's it...
-
- (QUEENIE, re-entering, stops in her tracks and appears puzzled.)
-
- (JULIE continues singing...)
- Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow,
- Tell me I'm crazy (maybe I know)
- Can't help lovin' dat man of mine.
-
- (QUEENIE questions how would white people know the song):
- How come y'all know dat song?
- (...remainder omitted due to copyright restrictions...)
Later verses lament that when he goes away, she is sad until he returns.
Controversy
In its own way, the song is almost as controversial as the song "Ol' Man RiverOl' Man River
"Ol' Man River" is a song in the 1927 musical Show Boat that expresses the African American hardship and struggles of the time with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River; it is sung from the point-of-view of a dock worker on a showboat, and is the most famous song from the show...
" (also from Show Boat) because of some phrases, though its lyrics have caused less of an uproar because the "offensive" portion is sung not by Julie but by Queenie, and is therefore not usually heard outside the show. In her section of the song, Queenie sings about Joe:
-
- My man is shiftless,
- An' good for nothin', too.
- He's my man just the same.
- He's never 'round here
- When there is work to do,
- He's never 'round here when there's workin' to do.
This lyric was included in every production of Show Boat up until 1966, except for the 1951 film version, in which this section of the song was simply omitted. In the 1966 Lincoln Center production of the show, produced during the height of the Civil Rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
era, this part of the lyric was completely rewritten by an uncredited writer to avoid any controversy, and it has remained that way ever since - except in the now-famous EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
3-CD album set of Show Boat, released in 1988. The revised lyric went:
-
- My man's a dreamer,
- He don't have much to say
- He's my man just the same
- Instead o' workin,
- He sits and dreams all day,
- Instead o' workin', he'll be dreamin' all day.
The 1951 film version of Show Boat went even one step further than the 1966 stage revival in "smoothing out" any "edginess" about the song, by omitting all reference to it as one sung for years by African-Americans and thereby omitting the section in which Queenie remarks that it is strange for Julie to know the song. In the 1951 film, the song is simply a love song Julie sings about her husband Steve, not a folk tune. Lena Horne also sings it this way in Till the Clouds Roll By.
Notable recordings
- Shirley BasseyShirley BasseyDame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
for the 1959 British studio cast album of Show Boat. - Carol BruceCarol BruceCarol Bruce was an American band singer, Broadway star, and film and television actress.Bruce was born Shirley Levy in Great Neck, New York, the daughter of Beatrice and Harry Levy. She began her career as a singer in the late 1930s with Larry Clinton and his band...
and other members of the cast of the 1946 revival of Show Boat - Ella FitzgeraldElla FitzgeraldElla Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, in the 1963 Verve release, "Ella Fitzgerald sings the Jerome Kern Songbook" - Bud FreemanBud FreemanLawrence "Bud" Freeman was a U.S. jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing the tenor saxophone, but also able at the clarinet. He had a smooth and full tenor sax style with a heavy robust swing. He was one of the most influential and important jazz tenor saxophonists of...
& The Summa Cum Laude Orchestra (the lyrics, written from a female perspective, are sung by a man) - Tess GardellaTess GardellaTherese "Tess" Gardella was an Italian American performer whose stage persona was "Aunt Jemima".A native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Gardella performed on both stage and screen, usually in blackface. In 1927, she originated the role of Queenie in the classic stage musical Show Boat...
(the original Queenie in "Show Boat") - Ava GardnerAva GardnerAva Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
(her own singing voice is heard on the soundtrack album of the 1951 film version of Show Boat, but not in the actual film, where her singing was dubbed by Annette Warren) - Björk Guðmundsdóttir & tríó Guðmundar IngólfssonarBjörk Guðmundsdóttir & Tríó Guðmundar IngólfssonarBjörk Guðmundsdóttir & tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar was an Icelandic jazz and bebop music band.The band formed in 1990 when the singer-songwriter Björk Guðmundsdóttir, who at the time sang and wrote for The Sugarcubes, joined the tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar Björk Guðmundsdóttir & tríó Guðmundar...
on the album Gling-GlóGling-GlóGling-Gló, released in 1990, is the only album by Björk Guðmundsdóttir & tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar, consisting of Björk Guðmundsdóttir on vocals, Guðmundur Ingólfsson on piano, Guðmundur Steingrímsson on drums, and Þórður Högnason on bass... - Annette HanshawAnnette HanshawCatherine Annette Hanshaw was born at her parents' residence in New York City on October 18, 1901. [Ed. While Annette sometimes gave her birth date as 1910, nephew Frank W. Hanshaw III confirms 1901 as the date on Annette's birth certificate.]-Biography:...
- Lena HorneLena HorneLena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
- Cleo LaineCleo LaineDame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...
and other members of the cast of the 1971 revival of Show Boat - Lonette McKeeLonette McKeeLonette McKee is an American film and television actress, music composer/producer/songwriter, screenwriter and director.-Biography:...
and members of the Harold Prince revival of Show Boat - Helen MorganHelen MorganHelen Morgan was an American singer and actress who worked in films and on the stage. A quintessential torch singer, she made a big splash in the Chicago club scene in the 1920s...
(1928 studio recording, the prologue to the 1929 film version of Show Boat, the studio recording released in conjunction with the 1932 revival, the 1936 film version, and several other recordings) - Sandi PattySandi PattySandra Faye "Sandi" Patty is an American Christian music singer. For many years she was known as Sandi Patti. She has been dubbed "The Voice" by critics, because of her wide range and flexibility.-Early life:...
- Marina PriorMarina PriorMarina Prior is an Australian singer and actress.- Early life :When she was a young child her parents returned to Australia and she grew up in Melbourne, attending Syndal South Primary School and Korowa Anglican Girls' School...
- Trudy Richards
- Teresa StratasTeresa StratasTeresa Stratas, OC , is a retired Canadian operatic soprano. She is especially well-known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's Lulu.-Early life and career:...
and other cast members of the acclaimed 1988 studio cast recordingStudio recordingThe term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance.-Studio cast recordings:...
of Show Boat - Barbra StreisandBarbra StreisandBarbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
- Constance TowersConstance Towers-Early life:Towers was born in Whitefish, Montana, the daughter of Ardath L. and Harry J. Towers. According to her official Web site, a contract from Paramount Pictures was offered to her at age 11 but was declined...
and other members of the cast of the 1966 revival of Show Boat - Annette Warren (on the compact disc version of the 1951 "Show Boat" soundtrack, where her rendition of the song is included along with Ava Gardner's))
- Margaret WhitingMargaret WhitingMargaret Whiting was a singer of American popular music and country music who first made her reputation during the 1940s and 1950s.-Youth:...
- Margaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern SongbookMargaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern SongbookMargaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook is a 1960 studio album by Margaret Whiting, with an orchestra conducted and arranged by Russell Garcia, focusing on the songs of Jerome Kern...
(1960) - Gogi GrantGogi GrantGogi Grant is an American popular singer.-Life and career:Grant was born Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of 12, she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she attended Venice High School. In California, she won a teenage singing contest and appeared on television...
- singing for Ann BlythAnn BlythAnn Marie Blyth is an American actress and singer, often cast in Hollywood musicals, but also successful in dramatic roles. Her performance as Veda Pierce in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Life and career:Blyth was born in Mount Kisco,...
on the soundtrack of The Helen Morgan StoryThe Helen Morgan StoryThe Helen Morgan Story is a 1957 American biographical film directed by Michael Curtiz starring Ann Blyth and Paul Newman.The screenplay by Oscar Saul, Dean Riesner, Stephen Longstreet, and Nelson Gidding is based on the life and career of torch singer/actress Helen Morgan, with fictional touches...
(1957).
In popular culture
- The Trudy Richards recording features in the film "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the DesertThe Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the DesertThe Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The plot is based on the journey of three drag queens who travel across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named...
" (1993). - Performed by Megan Joy, a top 13 finalist, on Season Eight of American Idol.
Cultural references
Tom LehrerTom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...
, in his song "Pollution", uses the line "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly". Another song of his, She's My Girl, begins with "Shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s gotta swim, and bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s gotta fly, I gotta love one woman till I die."
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. begins mankind's Sisyphean curse in Cat's Cradle
Cat's Cradle
Cat's Cradle is the fourth novel by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, first published in 1963. It explores issues of science, technology, and religion, satirizing the arms race and many other targets along the way...
with the lines "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly," ending instead with "man gotta sit and wonder why? why? why?"
See also
- Other songs from Show BoatShow BoatShow Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
: "BillBill (Show Boat)"Bill" is a song heard in Act II of Kern and Hammerstein's classic 1927 musical Show Boat. The song was written for Kern and P.G. Wodehouse's 1917 musical Oh, Lady! Lady!! for Vivienne Segal to perform, but withdrawn because it was considered too melancholy for that show...
", "Ol' Man RiverOl' Man River"Ol' Man River" is a song in the 1927 musical Show Boat that expresses the African American hardship and struggles of the time with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River; it is sung from the point-of-view of a dock worker on a showboat, and is the most famous song from the show...
"