“Ol’ Man River” by The Beach Boys

Credit: Margaret Durow

No group harmonizes as well as the Beach Boys, whose songs have become American treasures thanks to their delicate and complex vocal arrangements. While the ‘Boys’ may be best known for hits like “God Only Knows” and “Good Vibrations,” their take on the 1929 song “Ol’ Man River” is a true gem in their already sparkling oeuvre. Their voices bring it an ethereal yet comfortingly human air — and we think it would make for a soothing memorial song.

“Ol’ Man River” is actually a song with important roots in American history. It was composed by Jerome Kern, and the accompanying lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II for the musical Show Boat, which “contrasts the struggles and hardships of African Americans with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River. [It is] Meant to be performed in a slow tempo, it is sung complete once in the musical’s lengthy first scene by the stevedore “Joe” who travels with the boat, and, in the stage version, is heard four more times in brief reprises. Joe serves as a sort of musical one-man Greek chorus, and the song, when reprised, comments on the action, as if saying, “This has happened, but the river keeps rolling on anyway” (Kantor and Maslon, Broadway: The American Musical).

Indeed, the lyrics are simple enough: they reflect their reprisal creates an effect of comfort and solidarity in the midst of a struggle — a sense that even if we find ourselves at a loss of words or understanding, that life will go on:

“Ol’ man river
That ol’ man river
He must say something (he don’t know nothin’)
But he don’t say nothing
That ol’ man river
He just keeps rollin’ along”

The Beach Boys’ interpretation of the song gave it some contemporary flair, but they recognized that “revitalizing” the tune didn’t require a multitude of instruments and musical effects — just the creation of sincere, clean harmony.