Ol‘ Man River (A)

(J. Kern) C / g (orig. Eb / bb)

 

Niggers all work on the Mississippi,

Niggers all work while the white folks play,

Pulling them boats from the dawn till sunset

Getting no rest till the Judgement Day.

 

Don’t look up and don’t look down,

You don’t dare make the white boss frown;

Bend your knees and bow your head,

Pull that rope until you’re dead.

 

Let me go way from the Mississippi,

Let me go way from the white man boss,

Show me that stream called the river Jordan,

That the ol’stream that I long to cross.

 

(Rf.)

Ol’Man River, that Ol’Man River,

He must know something but don’t say nothing,

But Ol’Man River, he just keeps rolling along.

 

He don’t plant ‘tatoes, he don’t plant cotton,

And them that plant them it’s soon forgotten;

But Ol’Man River, he just keeps rolling along.

 

You and me, we sweat and strain,

Bodies all aching and wracked with pain.

Tote that barge and lift that bale,

Get a little drunk and you’ll land in jail.

 

I get weary and sick of trying,

I’m tired of living and feared of dying,

But Ol’Man River, he just keeps rolling along.