Preview
Identifier
Revue Program_Page_17
Creation Date
4-23-2021
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Theatre and Performance Studies
Description
DRAMATURGY - “CAN’T HELP LOVIN’...” - CONTINUED
This song has undergone numerous revisions, due to the controversial lyrics sung by Queenie, the ship’s black cook. In the 1951 film adaptation, Queenie’s remarks about Julie were omitted. The lyrics were then changed during the 1966 production at New York’s Lincoln Center, during the Civil Rights Movement. Due to the lyric change, the song became a love song
“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.”
“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.”
For context of the song, “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” Julie is telling Magnolia, daughter of showboat owner Cap’n Andy, about finding a man she loves worthy enough for her. Julie sings a few lines of the song, referencing her husband Steve. Queenie is perplexed that someone who appears white is singing a traditional African American song. It is later revealed in the musical that Julie is a biracial woman who is passing as white.
The song is mainly performed in blues rhythm, with a slower tempo, a twelve-bar chord progression, and is usually sung with African American dialect. This style of music was used by Hammerstein and Kern to represent blackness for the African American characters in the musical, because jazz and blues were still seen as black music and not yet popular with white audiences.
Publisher
Arkansas State University
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Theatre Program
Keywords
musical, compliation, retrospective, medley
