The breath control of Sinatra in this song I have known for many years always wowed me. Not the big note at the end, but the earlier phrase “ya gets sick and tired…” where he takes a big breath extends the phrase and segues into the the next phrase without a breath. Magnificent. Oops, I see I commented on this before. Oh well, I like it that much anyway to deserve a repeat comment.
This is probably his greatest performance ever. If not all time, at least of this song. The music is a little overwhelming or overpowering, mainly because it was recorded in 1946 at the end of the movie “Till the Clouds Roll By”. It was only recorded on set and unfortunately not in a studio. So this is the only recording on set, when it was filmed. It definitely needs to be cleaned up for digital remastering. That’s mainly why the instruments are a little distorted. This song shows why Frank Sinatra’s breath control is legendary. Absolutely superb singing from Frank and he makes it look so easy as well as flawless in his prime. His voice changes in 1951, when he lost his voice for 6 months. He was not allowed to speak at all for that time and possibly never sing again. So when he did sing after his hiatus, his voice started to get deeper and started to sound more like what most of the recent generation has heard from him. His early days was by far his best. In my opinion.
I just love Frank he has always been one of my favourite singers and actors he was just an amazing man There’s another version of Frank singing Old Man River but he’s much older and that version is just absolutely brilliant This was my dads favourite song but by Paul Robeson it always makes me think of my dad Love ❤️ from Denise in Yorkshire England 🏴👏👏👏👏💕👍👍👍🔥🙌👋
Love Frank Sinatra. My dad's favorite singer. He actually sent my dad a wedding present way back when, after my dad sent him a wedding invitation and "met" him on stage at a concert.
With Ray Anthony Orchestra (1946) I believe this is when they start calling him' THE VOICE' This was sung by Paul Roberson from the movie " SHOWBOAT" also covered by Sam Cooke1958) and the Temptations and Aretha Franklin and Cher. Written by Oscar Hammerstein II./P.G.Wodehouse
My mother was a teen in the 1940's and said movies sets were elaborate and elegant because there was a World War going on and people wanted to experience something beautiful, dream like for that day, to get away for a brief time from all that was going on. Even the cartoons shown before the movie would play were about the war. A newsreel was played before the movie showing war effort. The movie was an escape as they still are.
I couldn’t agree with you more! Seeing your reaction and appreciation to hearing one of the greatest entertainers of all time performing a song that is ridiculously hard is so gratifying. Thank you. Hopefully more people will visit the golden age of cinema and the musicals that were incredible. Nothing compares.
These scene are from the movie Till the Clouds Roll By about composer Jerome Kern. This movie came out in 1948. Like I said before please list to Paul Robeson version of this song.
Wow - I never heard this version before. I know the version he did later in his life. The phrasing is a little different. But what's remarkable is the way he sings "lands in jail" and then his voice drops really low and he sings "I get weary.." and then climbs up again. But the way he held the note at the end of the song in this version was fantastic. Mr. L Boyd - I'm glad I found you on ye old Internet.
I was raised on Sinatra by my Grandfather. I would make it maybe two lines and the tears roll down my cheeks every time. 😢🧡 I am so thankful for these songs and Mr Sinatra. All the instruments, his voice, it just touches something in my heart and soul.
I beg to differ on the notion that any one else brought Frank Sinatra to the forefront in his later years as you suggested. Frank was a star across several decades.
You have to Listen to Frank singing this when he's older. I think Old Man River sounds better when it has a mature voice. Listen to Judy Garland sing Old Man River live And Frank older version live. Check out Paul Robson sing this from the film version there was a remake of the film but I can't remember the singer he's brill to. 😁
Frank the man, the voice, the legend. He's at the top of the mountain for me as well. A good song to compare over the years is his version of I'm A Fool To Want You. He recorded it early and it was terrific. He rerecorded it after losing the love of his life Ava Gardner and that version is just chilling and heartbreaking. We are both blessed that we enjoy him.
Ok I subscribed 1 video prior... but hearing you say Sinatra is your number 1 just put such a huge smile on my face dude. Love it, love you. Keep it up.
This song became one of my father's favorite Sinatra standards. In his later recordings in the 50s and 60s of this song he used his circular breathing to hold the low E longer and dip down even lower. It is his ability to personally capture the emotional depth of the lyrics of the song. I would recommend his 50s recordings to you Mr. Lbolyd. In the later half of the 50s when he sung under the Capitol label. You would probably greatly the songs he did with powerful Billy May brassy big band arrangements.
Love this song. My favorite version of Sinatra singing this was at a benefit for the NAACP at Carnegie Hall. There were a lot of dignitaries in the audience, including Dr. King. Frank’s performance of this song was so emotional that witnesses said Dr. King was moved to tears. I was moved to tears myself, it was that emotional. It’s worth you checking it out. Thank you for this. Love your channel. 👏👏
Respect for QJ, Basie & Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon - fills my heart with song! But I absolutely respect Neal Hefti as well - kick ass arranger of Sinatra & Swingin’ Brass - I Get a KICK Outta You! More jazz 🎷 reactions 🎺 would certainly be quite copacetic my man.
From the web: During the sessions, the singer and arranger became friends - Sinatra even surprised Jones one morning by cooking him breakfast - and they went on to enjoy a close relationship that persisted right up to Sinatra’s death, in 1998. Jones regarded Sinatra as a mentor. “Frank was my style. He was hip, straight up, and straight ahead, and above all, a monster musician,” he wrote in his 2001 memoir, ."
I heard this version decades ago, but had never seen the film original before. I had always marveled at the magnificent breath control of the young Frank Sinatra and figured that it was too early to be recording tricks and must have been a one-take performance. This proved it true. I read stories of how he trained his voice strenuously and built that breath control. I’m a believer. He was a master singer and earned his early moniker “The Voice” for a reason.
Amazing choice. Frank was great. But dude you should hear the old version from "Showboat". Omg Paul Robeson was magnificent! 😭 Watch a movie clip from that scene. Even if it's just for you.
Paul Robeson's version is the best in my humble opinion, but Paul Robeson was actually covering Irving Kaufman's song since he was the first one chosen to record this song along with 'Kenn' Sisson and His Orchestra on December 27, 1927.
You should listen to Judy Garland sing this song. It is one of the most astounding performances of any song, ever. Frank himself once said, "the rest of us will be forgotten. Never Judy."
Quincy Jones is only the very, very tail end of Sinatra, before him was Count Basie, did you mean him? And of course Nelson Riddle was before him and really made Sinatra as far as musical accompaniment. Listen to the Concert Sinatra version of Old Man River for the best version. The version here is good but a very early version.
Riddle & Frank’s “It Was A Very Good Year” is unexcelled in Sinatra’s catalog as far as I am concerned. Interestingly, that song was extensively rearranged after Frank heard it sung by the Kingston Trio. I have been unable to find that original version, but I can only imagine how different it was before Frank messaged it into his exquisite version.
Interesting take! Jones did a tremendous job with Sinatra! I think you’d really love his voice and talent with Dorsey, this song in particular I liked when he re did it later on, his voice was deeper and more crisp.
Try the version when hes singing it in front of MLK in what I believe is a NAACP congress. He’s late and has no time to warm up byt he nails it an has dr King in tears. Greetings from Sweden. Keep up the good work. Also check out Sam Cookes version.
Here is some history for ya. From the early days of the nation, restaurants - serving people cooked food for money, was looked down upon as something only the dregs of society did. Innkeepers and taverns prepared ale, beers, and liquors and if someone was hungry then they would have food brought in from a widow, or other needy persons for hire. It wasn't until the late 1880's to 1900 that bored upper middle class and lower upper class housewives began opening tea shops with finger sandwiches that something like a restaurant would exist. What created the restaurant industry was Prohibition. Taverns needed income, after Prohibition started, so they began family dining. To compete with one another they began bringing in minstrels, from buskers to gigs on the side for symphony members. The continued competition lead to big band era music as family dining at the local buffet began to take place around a dance floor. In places like where I am from (Kansas City), men like Tom Pendergast kept scores of such places open for tourism and locals at 19th and Vine (across from his red light district). So, without Prohibition - this era of music would never have happened.
Paul Robeson does a great version. 1936 in the movie Showboat. William Warfield also does a great version. Both are quite different from Frank Sinatra.
Brother You need to hear the originator of the song from the broadway and west end show and the first sound film version, Paul Robinson.....the man was amazing, a Rhodes lawyer, the first black man to graduate with a law degree from that college, all star track and football, He couldn't get a job in law at the early part of the 1920's, so after a show tune fellow heard him singing in church, He started doing musical theatre and became a hit, but NOT in America at first! He had to go abroad to get leads, where blackface was already being frowned upon...He became the first black man to ever play the role of Othello (a sharkespearian black lead role) in England and then America. He became one of the first Black leading men of racially mixed film in both countries. During this time he continued to read and study world global politics and languages, l;earning enough to skillfully sing in 17 of them! He became a socialist activist for peoples freedom world wide, and entertained the troops in the Spanish civil war, fighting the fascists BEFORE WWII! After 1950, socialists/communists in America were the boogie men, and a black man who thought out of the box....well....He was blacklisted, nearly thrown out of the country, and then put under house arrest where His health left him after many years. He dies alone in the early 1970's...not quite forgotten, but not remembered enough. On top of all that, his voice is exeptional.
Excuse me friends, but the definitive version of this song about Black Oppression and Struggle was by the singer the songwriters, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, intended to sing it... Paul Robeson. It was written in the style of the shameful Minstrel shows, very popular (with White audiences) after the Civil War. The supposed dialect of the slaves is used as was the "N" word in their original lyrics. Robeson changed it to "darkies" and in concert, always sung That version. Tho I love me some Francis Albert Sinatra, this particular video, with all white performers dressed in all white outfits... just hits as oh-so-wrong. But that was entertainment 80 years ago!
If you like Sinatra, try Young Sinatra - Bobby Boy - Rat Pack - Logic ( that's all the same guy, just different personalities in his albums) He is #1 on Def Jams label and has been for years now.
Okay... #MrLboydReacts ... I am sorry, I love young Frank Sinatra, that was when he still sang songs, before he just talk his way.... But knowing this Song, the setting on a River Boat when there were still blacks working plantations.... It just isn't the same impact, because there isn't any pain in his voice... William Warfield does the Best Version of this Song.... Then my son and I am not bad... The thing about this song is you have to have great breath control.....
This is a good recording, but many of the other commenters are right. The changing profile of his voice as he got older REALLY took this performance into outer space.
As I have mentioned elsewhere on UA-cam I forgot the lyrics for an audition... The one's that I forgot were from the second of the 3 proceeding stanzas. That's cheating!!!! Even Paul Robeson didn't use them... use them Oh Well Francis Albert was as always magnificent
Run of the mill voice all day everyday it's distinctive because they shoved it down your throat on the radio in the day played only I like some of his music or if the music in the swing as far as his voice average at best
@@dansheridan6693 they used to call him the talking singer! Average at best! Perry como ..way better singer and had a better tone and Nat king Cole was the best in that era period
@@trazzy01 the majority of musical historians would disagree with you.however music is very subjective and we are all entitled to our opinions God bless
@@trazzy01 I believe that musical historians also look at it from a musical standpoint.and again most physical historians consider Sinatra as the greatest interpreter on the great American songbook of the 20th century. To call him average-at-best is ridiculous.there is no right or wrong in these situations beauty is in the ear of the listener.
Frank is great, but someone else does the song much better. Check out the movie show boat version of old man river. It is much more powerful. William Warfield
I love Sinatra, but this is not the song for him. If you want to know how this song should be done then you need to listen to Paul Robeson. This song is a part of the musical Showboat which came out in 1927.
The 1963 ol man river is just insane! It’s called the concert Sinatra it’s too good
MLK was supposedly brought to tears by that performance.
Great album, as well.
Beautiful arrangement with the orchestra and Sinatra's baritone voice. Frank looks like a dang teenager. Love it.
The breath control of Sinatra in this song I have known for many years always wowed me. Not the big note at the end, but the earlier phrase “ya gets sick and tired…” where he takes a big breath extends the phrase and segues into the the next phrase without a breath. Magnificent.
Oops, I see I commented on this before. Oh well, I like it that much anyway to deserve a repeat comment.
Not sure what was better, Franks incredible voice or watching you literally melt into the song.
Loved Sinatra and Johnny Mathis, too. Can't beat Paul Robeson version of Old Man River.
Frank actually performed this song for Martin Luther King ....had him in tears
Now this is a reaction I was not expecting but am extremely grateful exists
This is probably his greatest performance ever. If not all time, at least of this song. The music is a little overwhelming or overpowering, mainly because it was recorded in 1946 at the end of the movie “Till the Clouds Roll By”. It was only recorded on set and unfortunately not in a studio. So this is the only recording on set, when it was filmed. It definitely needs to be cleaned up for digital remastering. That’s mainly why the instruments are a little distorted. This song shows why Frank Sinatra’s breath control is legendary. Absolutely superb singing from Frank and he makes it look so easy as well as flawless in his prime. His voice changes in 1951, when he lost his voice for 6 months. He was not allowed to speak at all for that time and possibly never sing again. So when he did sing after his hiatus, his voice started to get deeper and started to sound more like what most of the recent generation has heard from him. His early days was by far his best. In my opinion.
I just love Frank he has always been one of my favourite singers and actors he was just an amazing man There’s another version of Frank singing Old Man River but he’s much older and that version is just absolutely brilliant This was my dads favourite song but by Paul Robeson it always makes me think of my dad Love ❤️ from Denise in Yorkshire England 🏴👏👏👏👏💕👍👍👍🔥🙌👋
Love Frank Sinatra. My dad's favorite singer. He actually sent my dad a wedding present way back when, after my dad sent him a wedding invitation and "met" him on stage at a concert.
Frank Sinatra - That’s Life
Brought a tear to my eyes
1946 'till the clouds roll by' movie. judy garland, angela landsbury, van johnson... a classic. i love these old hollywood movies.
With Ray Anthony Orchestra (1946) I believe this is when they start calling him' THE VOICE' This was
sung by Paul Roberson from the movie " SHOWBOAT" also covered by Sam Cooke1958) and the Temptations and Aretha Franklin and Cher. Written by Oscar Hammerstein II./P.G.Wodehouse
Gorgeous voice
this performance is just magical
My mother was a teen in the 1940's and said movies sets were elaborate and elegant because there was a World War going on and people wanted to experience something beautiful, dream like for that day, to get away for a brief time from all that was going on. Even the cartoons shown before the movie would play were about the war. A newsreel was played before the movie showing war effort. The movie was an escape as they still are.
You should absolutely check out some of the versions of this song he did later in life, he really mastered everything about it -❄️🔥
Yes I’d like to hear you compare them to each other
I couldn’t agree with you more! Seeing your reaction and appreciation to hearing one of the greatest entertainers of all time performing a song that is ridiculously hard is so gratifying. Thank you. Hopefully more people will visit the golden age of cinema and the musicals that were incredible. Nothing compares.
These scene are from the movie Till the Clouds Roll By about composer Jerome Kern. This movie came out in 1948. Like I said before please list to Paul Robeson version of this song.
Wow - I never heard this version before. I know the version he did later in his life. The phrasing is a little different. But what's remarkable is the way he sings "lands in jail" and then his voice drops really low and he sings "I get weary.." and then climbs up again.
But the way he held the note at the end of the song in this version was fantastic.
Mr. L Boyd - I'm glad I found you on ye old Internet.
Being a child growing up in new york my father was a big fan of Frank Sinatra ...
I was raised on Sinatra by my Grandfather. I would make it maybe two lines and the tears roll down my cheeks every time. 😢🧡 I am so thankful for these songs and Mr Sinatra. All the instruments, his voice, it just touches something in my heart and soul.
I beg to differ on the notion that any one else brought Frank Sinatra to the forefront in his later years as you suggested. Frank was a star across several decades.
He was as big as the Beatles in his early days.
You have to Listen to Frank singing this when he's older.
I think Old Man River sounds better when it has a mature voice.
Listen to Judy Garland sing Old Man River live
And Frank older version live.
Check out Paul Robson sing this from the film version there was a remake of the film but I can't remember the singer he's brill to. 😁
The movie was “Showboat”
ua-cam.com/video/HZse_nH1hSo/v-deo.html
just beautiful!!!
My favourite Sinatra period was when he was with Capitol. His voice was always incredible. Thanks for sharing man.
Frank the man, the voice, the legend. He's at the top of the mountain for me as well. A good song to compare over the years is his version of I'm A Fool To Want You. He recorded it early and it was terrific. He rerecorded it after losing the love of his life Ava Gardner and that version is just chilling and heartbreaking. We are both blessed that we enjoy him.
POWER & Grace
Happy you did this brother thanks for taking the recommendation! I'd be curious if you compare this with him when he was older....many blessings!
Ok I subscribed 1 video prior... but hearing you say Sinatra is your number 1 just put such a huge smile on my face dude. Love it, love you. Keep it up.
Frankie at his best :) Love this :)
This song became one of my father's favorite Sinatra standards. In his later recordings in the 50s and 60s of this song he used his circular breathing to hold the low E longer and dip down even lower. It is his ability to personally capture the emotional depth of the lyrics of the song. I would recommend his 50s recordings to you Mr. Lbolyd. In the later half of the 50s when he sung under the Capitol label. You would probably greatly the songs he did with powerful Billy May brassy big band arrangements.
Love this song. My favorite version of Sinatra singing this was at a benefit for the NAACP at Carnegie Hall. There were a lot of dignitaries in the audience, including Dr. King. Frank’s performance of this song was so emotional that witnesses said Dr. King was moved to tears. I was moved to tears myself, it was that emotional. It’s worth you checking it out. Thank you for this. Love your channel. 👏👏
Respect for QJ, Basie & Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon - fills my heart with song! But I absolutely respect Neal Hefti as well - kick ass arranger of Sinatra & Swingin’ Brass - I Get a KICK Outta You!
More jazz 🎷 reactions 🎺 would certainly be quite copacetic my man.
Have you ever heard Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bing Crosdy do Style
Frank Sinatra was amazing! Timeless!
Love your reaction. thanks
Go back, please go back, and check out the balladry from the 50s and early 60s. Great work, MrLboyd.
Wow!!! Not a big Sinatra fan.. but this was amazing
I concur, my heart is always full while listening to Big Band music. ❤️
From the web: During the sessions, the singer and arranger became friends - Sinatra even surprised Jones one morning by cooking him breakfast - and they went on to enjoy a close relationship that persisted right up to Sinatra’s death, in 1998. Jones regarded Sinatra as a mentor. “Frank was my style. He was hip, straight up, and straight ahead, and above all, a monster musician,” he wrote in his 2001 memoir, ."
I heard this version decades ago, but had never seen the film original before. I had always marveled at the magnificent breath control of the young Frank Sinatra and figured that it was too early to be recording tricks and must have been a one-take performance. This proved it true. I read stories of how he trained his voice strenuously and built that breath control. I’m a believer. He was a master singer and earned his early moniker “The Voice” for a reason.
Goosebumps Everytime. Love your reactions. New sub!
I love this :)
Amazing choice. Frank was great. But dude you should hear the old version from "Showboat". Omg Paul Robeson was magnificent! 😭 Watch a movie clip from that scene. Even if it's just for you.
It's a cover Paul Robeson's song and Sinatra wanted to pay his homage to him
Paul Robeson. Now there's a voice.
Paul Robeson's version is the best in my humble opinion, but Paul Robeson was actually covering Irving Kaufman's song since he was the first one chosen to record this song along with 'Kenn' Sisson and His Orchestra on December 27, 1927.
You should listen to Judy Garland sing this song. It is one of the most astounding performances of any song, ever. Frank himself once said, "the rest of us will be forgotten. Never Judy."
Frank Sinatra.Nice and Easy and How Little We Know from his tv special Francis Albert does his thing watch that
Thus is hus best version of this so g
You can check out some of his recordings with Tommy Dorsey, very different from the later years.
Very touching watching this reaction! Great job!
The older got Frank Sinatra better he got.
Wow, thought I heard all of his songs. He’s just a pup there.
Yeah there's a whole album of.him and Tom Dorsey orchestra on spotify
The music performance/sets back then were modeled after theater rather than being their own thing yet
You said Quicey Jones. Look who's conducting!
Arguably the best Sinatra song with all due respect to Paul Robeson 🙏
Quincy Jones is only the very, very tail end of Sinatra, before him was Count Basie, did you mean him? And of course Nelson Riddle was before him and really made Sinatra as far as musical accompaniment. Listen to the Concert Sinatra version of Old Man River for the best version. The version here is good but a very early version.
Riddle & Frank’s “It Was A Very Good Year” is unexcelled in Sinatra’s catalog as far as I am concerned. Interestingly, that song was extensively rearranged after Frank heard it sung by the Kingston Trio. I have been unable to find that original version, but I can only imagine how different it was before Frank messaged it into his exquisite version.
Interesting take! Jones did a tremendous job with Sinatra! I think you’d really love his voice and talent with Dorsey, this song in particular I liked when he re did it later on, his voice was deeper and more crisp.
Try the version when hes singing it in front of MLK in what I believe is a NAACP congress. He’s late and has no time to warm up byt he nails it an has dr King in tears. Greetings from Sweden. Keep up the good work. Also check out Sam Cookes version.
Here is some history for ya.
From the early days of the nation, restaurants - serving people cooked food for money, was looked down upon as something only the dregs of society did. Innkeepers and taverns prepared ale, beers, and liquors and if someone was hungry then they would have food brought in from a widow, or other needy persons for hire. It wasn't until the late 1880's to 1900 that bored upper middle class and lower upper class housewives began opening tea shops with finger sandwiches that something like a restaurant would exist. What created the restaurant industry was Prohibition.
Taverns needed income, after Prohibition started, so they began family dining. To compete with one another they began bringing in minstrels, from buskers to gigs on the side for symphony members. The continued competition lead to big band era music as family dining at the local buffet began to take place around a dance floor. In places like where I am from (Kansas City), men like Tom Pendergast kept scores of such places open for tourism and locals at 19th and Vine (across from his red light district). So, without Prohibition - this era of music would never have happened.
Paul Robeson does a great version. 1936 in the movie Showboat. William Warfield also does a great version. Both are quite different from Frank Sinatra.
Frank is the King of crooners! NO ONE is better than him. 💗💗💗💗 However I love the original by William Warfield best. 😏
How about puttin on the ritz by taco since we going old lol
Yes, I love Frank Sinatra. But if like this song listen to the man who sings it in the movie Show Boat.
PLEASE react to FRANK singing "THE BEST IS YET TO COME" its the epitath on his grave
Aww ...man , I thought this was the version where Franks is older...
Brother You need to hear the originator of the song from the broadway and west end show and the first sound film version, Paul Robinson.....the man was amazing, a Rhodes lawyer, the first black man to graduate with a law degree from that college, all star track and football, He couldn't get a job in law at the early part of the 1920's, so after a show tune fellow heard him singing in church, He started doing musical theatre and became a hit, but NOT in America at first! He had to go abroad to get leads, where blackface was already being frowned upon...He became the first black man to ever play the role of Othello (a sharkespearian black lead role) in England and then America. He became one of the first Black leading men of racially mixed film in both countries. During this time he continued to read and study world global politics and languages, l;earning enough to skillfully sing in 17 of them! He became a socialist activist for peoples freedom world wide, and entertained the troops in the Spanish civil war, fighting the fascists BEFORE WWII! After 1950, socialists/communists in America were the boogie men, and a black man who thought out of the box....well....He was blacklisted, nearly thrown out of the country, and then put under house arrest where His health left him after many years. He dies alone in the early 1970's...not quite forgotten, but not remembered enough. On top of all that, his voice is exeptional.
Excuse me friends, but the definitive version of this song about Black Oppression and Struggle was by the singer the songwriters, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, intended to sing it... Paul Robeson. It was written in the style of the shameful Minstrel shows, very popular (with White audiences) after the Civil War. The supposed dialect of the slaves is used as was the "N" word in their original lyrics. Robeson changed it to "darkies" and in concert, always sung That version. Tho I love me some Francis Albert Sinatra, this particular video, with all white performers dressed in all white outfits... just hits as oh-so-wrong. But that was entertainment 80 years ago!
Please watch and review the live 60's version
Nelson Riddle had much to do with h Frank Sinatra's musical style as the arranger of Sinatra's recordings in the'50's.
If you like Sinatra, try Young Sinatra - Bobby Boy - Rat Pack - Logic ( that's all the same guy, just different personalities in his albums) He is #1 on Def Jams label and has been for years now.
Okay... #MrLboydReacts ... I am sorry, I love young Frank Sinatra, that was when he still sang songs, before he just talk his way.... But knowing this Song, the setting on a River Boat when there were still blacks working plantations.... It just isn't the same impact, because there isn't any pain in his voice... William Warfield does the Best Version of this Song.... Then my son and I am not bad... The thing about this song is you have to have great breath control.....
This is a good recording, but many of the other commenters are right. The changing profile of his voice as he got older REALLY took this performance into outer space.
You should react to Peggy Lee. She has a glorious voice.
People were legends before Quincy Jones!
now united, please!
Atch the musical Showboat......the gentleman who sings this has Sinatra beaten.
You should have heard his version in later years even better
As I have mentioned elsewhere on UA-cam I forgot the lyrics for an audition... The one's that I forgot were from the second of the 3 proceeding stanzas. That's cheating!!!! Even Paul Robeson didn't use them... use them Oh Well Francis Albert was as always magnificent
Nelson Riddle
He did it better as an old man.
Sammy Davis Jr in the 60s or his 1985 live performance i think is slightly better.
Compare this to when he sang it live in the 60s much older....
1946 ?
Run of the mill voice all day everyday it's distinctive because they shoved it down your throat on the radio in the day played only I like some of his music or if the music in the swing as far as his voice average at best
There is something wrong with you
@@dansheridan6693 they used to call him the talking singer! Average at best! Perry como ..way better singer and had a better tone and Nat king Cole was the best in that era period
@@trazzy01 the majority of musical historians would disagree with you.however music is very subjective and we are all entitled to our opinions God bless
@@dansheridan6693 yes everybody has their opinion historians have nothing to do with this! I'm talking from a musical standpoint!
@@trazzy01 I believe that musical historians also look at it from a musical standpoint.and again most physical historians consider Sinatra as the greatest interpreter on the great American songbook of the 20th century. To call him average-at-best is ridiculous.there is no right or wrong in these situations beauty is in the ear of the listener.
Frank is great, but someone else does the song much better. Check out the movie show boat version of old man river. It is much more powerful. William Warfield
He’s a great voice but Paul Robeson owns this song
Kind of absurd -- formal white tuxedos & gowns, white set, white instruments -- to sing the lament of a slave.
Check out johney lee Hooker boom boom boom
I mean really? you can't get much better than this... I'm welcome to suggestions
I love Sinatra, but this is not the song for him. If you want to know how this song should be done then you need to listen to Paul Robeson. This song is a part of the musical Showboat which came out in 1927.
Frank was actually better before Quincy Jones.
One of the few Frank songs which is better heard than seen. Gaudy, cringe worthy set in an over the top musical arrangement.