Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man
- 1.Accompaniment0:38
- 2.Accompaniment + Melody0:38
“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.
The song, written in a blues 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.
“Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” was strongly associated with 1920s torch singer 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 and her films are infrequently seen. Finally, 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, though various recordings of her singing it are available online.
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 (1946), and could have easily played Julie in MGM‘s Show Boat had the studio not been nervous about casting her in the role.
Purchase includes: Mp3 Audio Tracks
- Accompaniment
- Accompaniment + Melody
€3,50
Product Description
“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.
The song, written in a blues 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.
“Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” was strongly associated with 1920s torch singer 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 and her films are infrequently seen. Finally, 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, though various recordings of her singing it are available online.
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 (1946), and could have easily played Julie in MGM‘s Show Boat had the studio not been nervous about casting her in the role.
Purchase includes: Mp3 Audio Tracks
- Accompaniment
- Accompaniment + Melody
