Rodney Clarke - Ol' Man River - BBC Proms 2012

[@donaldsunny7836]

what a line "I'm tired of living, but scared of dying"

[@cak8132]

Well, he certainly knocked that song right out of the park. Bravo, Rodney Clarke. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@joycesanderson2459]

Oh my goodness phenomenal exquisite fantastic wowzersxxxx

[@michaeled7006]

Wonderful music.

[@elisaldoantoniolonghi1808]

The most beautiful song.

[@AlfredoToker]

AMAIZING!!!

[@sharonhoyt2133]

Amazing

[@melanieevans5597]

William Warfield sang old man river in show boat he was amazing

[@sgreene65]

*melt*

[@larsrochna9227]

He is a bass-baritone?

[@BrightKelly19]

Feels like a pure lyric baritone to me, light and airy and strong in his highs. But he has a wide range. Voice parts are needlessly limiting. I think he did great here.

[@donna30044]

Rodney Clarke's performance is very good, but, for me, the benchmark performance has always been that of Paul Robeson in the 1936 film of "Showboat". His performance was ground-breaking at the time because of the systemic racism of the era that put roadblocks in the way of Black performers being cast in "White" films. Paul Robeson was a phenomenal actor, singer, and human being. R.I.P. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5mciJSvg5yFY9U

[@peterd788]

He sings very well but this version of the song is completely devoid of its original meaning. There's a reason why Kern and Hammerstein wrote the first verse and every version since has modified it to take away its meaning to avoid an insinuation of racism even though the purpose was to highlight racism. The verse became so ridiculously mauled over the years that now it's performed without the fist verse, at all. It's now a parody however well what's left of it is sung.

[@Arkelk2010]

Agreed. Hammerstein was very careful with his lyrics to say what he wanted to say. And being against racism was not a fad with him. Here in "Showboat" toward the beginning of his famous period and in "South Pacific" towards the end, he writes songs concerning these topics--songs with messages that fit the story and leave holes if removed.

[@rupert2591]

Oddly misses the mark for me and I can't quite put my finger on it.

[@carrieheidbrier1925]

rupert von trapp It’s my favorite rendition largely because of the classical sounding resonance in his voice - maybe you’d prefer a more contemporary or folksy voice? (Nothing wrong with that of course; just a matter of preferences!)

[@davegreene8588]

Lyric baritone - and a fine one @ that. Emotional rendition of the classic.

[@yelnats85]

Try Roderick Williams; same venue two years later (kzbin.info/www/bejne/eH6ki5hubrRpZ80)