Motherless Child

I spent Sunday evening at the local folk club with Shaggy, listening to an "illustrated talk on the life and songs of Paul Robeson". I didn't know too much about Robeson except he sang "Ol' Man River" and was a serious actooooorrrr, at a time when being black and a serious actooooorrrrr didn't really compute. It was quite an amateurish talk by a tubby shantyman type with a banjo, but was nonetheless an interesting education on a man who was the equal of any (he was a talented lawyer, athlete, actor and singer) but who was scandalously shackled by a system that just couldn't see past his skin colour. Eventually he found himself even sidelined by the Civils Rights movement because of his rather naive involvement with Soviet communism (at a time when that wasn't the done thing)...

It turns out that he thought a great deal of Britain, which although far from perfect in the race stakes, was not segregated, and gave him the opportunity to play Othello at Stratford for a full five years. Unfortunately it was also in Britain where he was treated with unbelievably excessive amounts of ECT for depression, which left him a shadow of his previous self. The shantyman chap played various excerpts from Robeson's songs and speeches, throughout his lifetime. If you have not heard his singing, he has the most insanely low-deep voice, which has a resonance that could pitchfork your heart. The first song played was perhaps the one that got to me most - Sometimes I Feel (Like a Motherless Child) - an old negro spiritual:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCImJbG-OcI

A brilliant man, who also managed to have affairs with absolutely every woman he ever met. Respect and more respect due!