Jerome Kern, music · Oscar Hammerstein II, lyrics · Introduced by Helen Morgan in Show Boat, 1927
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
Jerome Kern wrote the music and Oscar Hammerstein II the words for the 1927 musical Show Boat. Its slow, bluesy pace and tune leave room for singers and soloists to make it their own. You can hear it from Billie Holiday, Clifford Brown, Abbey Lincoln, Ella Fitzgerald and the Ray Brown Trio.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Helen Morgan's 1928 record, by the singer who introduced the song on stage, and moves to Billie Holiday's swing-era vocal. It then follows Clifford Brown, Milt Jackson, Abbey Lincoln and Kenny Dorham from 1955 to 1960, adds Ella Fitzgerald with an orchestra, and closes with a live 1988 trio version from Ray Brown.
1930sTeddy Wilson and His Orchestra with Billie Holiday1937
1940s
1950sClifford Brown with Neal Hefti's orchestra1955 · Bebop
Milt Jackson Quintet1956 · Bebop
Abbey Lincoln with the Riverside Jazz Stars1957 · Soul jazz
1960sKenny Dorham Quintet1960 · Bebop
Ella Fitzgerald with Nelson Riddle's orchestra1963 · Vocal
1970s
1980sRay Brown Trio1988
Progress can't be saved in this browser.
Step 1 of 8 Now playing✓ Heard
Hear the song as the show's first singer gave it
Helen Morgan · 1928
Victor 21238
Helen Morgan played Julie in the original 1927 production of Show Boat, which opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York on December 27, 1927. According to the Discography of American Historical Recordings, she recorded the song for Victor in New York in February 1928.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Morgan is the only credited performer on this track, and her voice carries the whole song. The record runs 3:04, about one side of a 78 rpm disc.
Try it on your instrument
Play 1 to 4 of the , the first in each bar: , , E♭maj7, . Smaller version: play only the root note of each chord.
Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra with Billie Holiday · 1937
Brunswick 8008
Teddy Wilson led a small band for Brunswick in New York on November 1, 1937, with Billie Holiday as the singer and Buck Clayton on trumpet. Brunswick issued the song on a 78 rpm record, number 8008, with My Man on the other side.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Holiday sings with Teddy Wilson's piano, a trumpet, a clarinet and a tenor saxophone around her. The record runs 3:15.
Try it on your instrument
Play 5 to 8 of the , the first in each bar: , , , . Smaller version: play only the root note of each chord.
Clifford Brown with Neal Hefti's orchestra · 1955 · Bebop
Clifford Brown with Strings
Clifford Brown recorded this with a string section in New York on January 19, 1955, with arrangements and conducting by Neal Hefti. EmArcy issued it that year on the album Clifford Brown with Strings.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Brown's trumpet leads, with a string section behind him and a rhythm group of piano, guitar, bass and drums. The track runs 3:43.
Try it on your instrument
Play 17 to 20 of the , one per bar: , , , . Smaller version: play only the root note of each chord.
Milt Jackson led a quintet with tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson at Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack studio on January 23, 1956. Savoy issued the session that year as The Jazz Skyline.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Jackson plays vibes with Lucky Thompson on tenor saxophone, and Hank Jones, Wendell Marshall and Kenny Clarke on piano, bass and drums. The track runs 4:40.
Try it on your instrument
Play 3 and 4 with all their : , , in bar 3, then , in bar 4. Smaller version: play only the first chord of each bar.
Hear a jazz singer with a small group of leading players
Abbey Lincoln with the Riverside Jazz Stars · 1957 · Soul jazz
“Can't Help Lovin' That Man”, Abbey Lincoln with the Riverside Jazz Stars
Abbey Lincoln recorded this in New York in October 1957 with trumpeter Kenny Dorham, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Max Roach. According to jazzdisco.org, it first came out on Riverside RLP 1107.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Lincoln sings with Kenny Dorham on trumpet and Sonny Rollins on tenor saxophone, and Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Max Roach on piano, bass and drums. The track runs about three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last of the both ways: and the first time, then and the second time, which leads into the . Smaller version: play only the root note of each .
Trumpeter Kenny Dorham recorded a whole album of Show Boat songs in New York on December 9, 1960, with Jimmy Heath on tenor saxophone. Time Records issued it as Jerome Kern Showboat, and this track runs 6:41.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Dorham leads on trumpet with Jimmy Heath on tenor saxophone and a rhythm group of piano, bass and drums. At 6:41 the track is longer than most of the earlier records on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Play 21 to 24 of the , one per bar: , , , . Smaller version: play only the root note of each chord.
Ella Fitzgerald with Nelson Riddle's orchestra · 1963 · Vocal
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book
Ella Fitzgerald recorded her Jerome Kern Song Book on January 5 to 7, 1963, with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. Verve released it that year, and this track runs 3:54.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Fitzgerald sings with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. The track runs 3:54.
Try it on your instrument
Play a full of 32 at a slow pace, the first in each bar. Smaller version: play only the first , bars 1 to 8.
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II write the song for the musical Show Boat, which opens in New York in December 1927. Helen Morgan, who plays Julie in the show, records it for Victor in February 1928.
1930s
Teddy Wilson leads a small band in New York in November 1937, with Billie Holiday singing and Buck Clayton on trumpet. Brunswick issues the record on a 78 rpm disc.
1940s
Lena Horne sings it as Julie in the 1946 MGM film Till the Clouds Roll By, a film about Kern's life. MGM releases the soundtrack as an album in 1947.
1950s
Clifford Brown records it with a string section in January 1955. Milt Jackson's quintet follows in 1956, and Abbey Lincoln sings it with a quintet in 1957.
1960s
Kenny Dorham's quintet records a whole album of Show Boat songs in December 1960, and this track runs 6:41. Ella Fitzgerald sings it with Nelson Riddle's orchestra in January 1963.
1980s
The Ray Brown Trio plays it live at The Loa in Santa Monica in July 1988. The track runs 9:32 on the album Summer Wind.
1990s
Björk records it in 1990 on Gling-Gló, a jazz-trio album made with the Guðmundur Ingólfsson trio and released by Smekkleysa in October.
2010s
Saxophonist Chris Cheek and guitarist Gustav Lundgren record it in Barcelona in September 2018, with bass and drums, for a Kern album released in 2020.
More great versions
3 more, from 1959 to 1990. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sOscar Peterson Trio1959
Yusef Lateef and His Jazz Quintet1959 · Hard bop
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990sBjörk Guðmundsdóttir and Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar1990 · Contemporary jazz
Oscar Peterson Trio
1959
Oscar Peterson Plays the Jerome Kern Song Book
Oscar Peterson recorded this with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen at Universal Recording in Chicago, in sessions between July 14 and August 9, 1959. Verve issued it on MGV-2056.
Yusef Lateef recorded this with his quintet, including euphonium player Bernard McKinney, at Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack studio on June 11, 1959. Savoy issued it on The Dreamer.
Gling-Gló is a jazz-trio album by Björk Guðmundsdóttir and Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar, released by Smekkleysa in October 1990 and recorded at Stúdio Sýrland on three days that summer and autumn. This track is the Kern and Hammerstein song.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
E♭ majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
E♭ majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
E♭
The tune is 32 in form: two 8-bar , an 8-bar (the ), and a final 8-bar A. In iReal Pro's chart the A section opens with and in bar 1, and in bar 2, E♭maj7, and in bar 3, and and in bar 4. Bars 5 to 8 play and Cm7, and B♭7, and , then Fm7 and B♭7. The first time through, bar 8 is Fm7 and B♭7 and the A section repeats; the second time it is B♭m7 and E♭7, which leads into the bridge. The B section plays A♭6, , E♭maj7, , E♭maj7, , Fm7 and B♭7, one per bar. The last A matches the first, except that bar 7 is E♭6 alone. The areas above are a reading of iReal Pro's chart, which stays in throughout, and other lead sheets may spell some chords differently.