Episode 326. Paul Robeson Unchained
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Today, Martin Luther King Day and the day before the reinauguration of King Ubu of the Divided States of America, is an appropriate time to revisit the life and legacy of the great Paul Robeson. Both great Americans, King and Robeson, were met with great resistance, incomprehension, and opposition in their day. While Dr. King is now justly celebrated with a national holiday, his legacy is often watered down by those, even right-wing extremists, that seek to attach their own agenda to his progressive legacy. Paul Robeson returned to his native country during the dark days of World War II. Shortly after the war ended, Robeson was also subject to incomprehension and oppression related to his embrace of Communism, which led to him being blacklisted and his passport being rescinded. Finally in 1958, after eight years of being hounded by the FBI, Paul Robeson finally regained the right to travel abroad. During the years of his blacklisting, he had effectively been unable to support himself. In thanks to his supporters following his emancipation, Robeson gave a celebratory concert on June 1, 1958 at his home church, Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Harlem. Shortly thereafter, he departed on years’ long sojourn abroad. His first stop was the Royal Albert Hall in London, where he performed on August 10, 1958, the beginning of a nationwide tour across the UK. Thereafter he visited other countries as well, including East Germany, where he was particularly celebrated and revered and where, in 1959 in an East Berlin recording studio, he made a new recording of old and new favorites with his frequent collaborator Earl Robinson. Rare selections from each of these events are featured on this episode, which is enhanced with excerpts from, and commentary by, Paul Robeson on his greatest stage success, the title role in Shakespeare’s Othello, a work which is distressingly relevant as the United States faces its greatest challenge in recent history. This episode is both a celebration of one of the greatest patriots our country has known as well as a warning of the pitfalls that await a nation that chooses to ignore or misrepresent those great Americans in lieu of hate-filled opportunists.

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Edward C. Purcell, anonymous text collected Thomas Ford: Passing By. Paul Robeson, Earl Robinson [recorded Berlin 1959]

Paul Robeson Live at Zion AME Church, Harlem [01 June 1958]. Lawrence Brown, assisting artist (unless otherwise noted).
- Traditional Spiritual (arranged Lawrence Brown): Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
- Traditional Spiritual (arranged Lawrence Brown): No More Auction Block for Me
- Traditional: Chinese Children’s Song
- Earl Robinson, Allen Lewis: The House I Live In. Alan Booth, pianist


Paul Robeson Live at Royal Albert Hall, London [10 August 1958]. Lawrence Brown and Bruno Raikin, pianists (as noted)
- Traditional Spiritual (arranged Lawrence Brown): Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit [LB]
- Traditional Spiritual (arranged Lawrence Brown): Ezekiel Saw the Wheel [LB]
- Traditional Spiritual (arranged Lawrence Brown): I’ll Hear the Trumpet Sound [LB]
- Traditional Spiritual (arranged Lawrence Brown): Get on Board, Little Children [LB]
- Traditional French: L’amour de moy [BR]
- Traditional Russian (arranged Bromberg): Volga Boatman [BR]
- Earl Robinson, Alfred Hayes: Joe Hill [BR]
- Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein, Paul Robeson (revised words): Old Man River (Show Boat) [BR]


Paul Robeson – Das andere Amerika [recorded Berlin 1959]. Earl Robinson, pianist

- Traditional American, arr. Avery Robinson: Water Boy
- Traditional: Hassidic Chant
- Traditional Spiritual (arranged Lawrence Brown): There Is a Balm in Gilead
- George H. Clutsam: My Curly-Headed Baby
- Traditional Spiritual (arranged Lawrence Brown): Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child
- Unknown: The Echo of Our Youth
- Traditional Irish: Kevin Barry


Paul Robeson interview with Alfred Alvarez on Othello [Monitor, BBC-TV 12.IV.1959]

William Shakespeare: excerpts from Othello:


- Ha, I like not that. Paul Robeson, José Ferrer, Uta Hagen [1943]
- A word or two before you go. Paul Robeson [live Carnegie Hall 09.V.1958]


Paul Robeson Live at Zion AME Church, Harlem [01 June 1958]. Lawrence Brown, pianist

- Thank You Speech
- Traditional Spiritual (arranged Lawrence Brown): Jacob’s Ladder

Traditional Spiritual (arranged Lawrence Brown): Deep River. Earl Robinson [Berlin 1959]
