Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 12:13am

Song of the Volga Boatmen

Something for the weekend.  Paul Robeson, an incomparable talent, singing The Song of the Volga Boatmen.

Glenn Miller, reflecting the wartime alliance with the Soviet Union, gives the Song of the Volga Boatmen an unforgettable twist.

Robeson’s rightful rage over the treatment of his fellow blacks in the US of his day led him to embrace Communism, the Soviet Union and Stalin.   Proof, if any were needed,  that being a great artist does not exempt one from being a complete idiot in other areas of life.

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T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Saturday, June 12, AD 2010 6:19am

Robeson: The voice of evil.

Gabriel Austin
Gabriel Austin
Saturday, June 12, AD 2010 12:41pm

Much as I like Paul Robeson’s voice, I think Leonid Kharitonov’s version of the Volga Boatmen [You ho heave ho] is far better. It is on You Tube.

One can sympathize with Paul Robeson, forbidden as we was to sing in his own country. But the banal English words of the Soviet anthem should have given him a clue.
“Long live our [sic] Soviet motherland / built by the people’s mighty hand”.
Indeed! Pfui!

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