“老人河”，也可译做“河流老人”，是指美国境内最大的密西西比河。在音乐剧《水上舞台》尚处于彩排阶段，原著小说的作家菲伯尔应邀去听该剧的演唱。几年后，她回忆最初听到《老人河》时的情景说：“我的头发倒竖，泪水夺眶而出。这是一首伟大的歌曲。”

1928年，音乐剧在伦敦演出时，由美国黑人男低音歌唱家保尔·罗伯逊(1898～1976)饰演黑人祖尔一角。祖尔在剧中虽属次要角色，然而一曲《老人河》使得当时还不很出名的罗伯逊名扬世界。罗伯逊后来把这首歌作为独立的曲目经常在音乐会上演唱，他把原词末尾带有消沉内容的词句“快离开吧，已受尽创伤，美好的生活何时才来到”改为“我不哭泣，信念坚定，我永不停止那斗争的生活”，赋予更积极的意义。

英文歌词：

Old man river

There is an old man called Mississippi,

That's the old man I don't like to be.

What does he care if the world' d got troubles,

What does he care if the land ain' t free.

Don' t look up, and don' t look down !

You don't just make the white boss frown,

Bend your knees and bow your head,

And pull that rope until you're dead!

Let me go way from the Mississippi,

Let me go way from the white man boss.

Show me that stream call de river Jordan,

Dat de old stream dat I long to cross.

Old man river,

Dat old man river!

He must know something,

But don't say nothing.

He just keeps rolling,

He keeps on rolling along.

He don' t plant tatoes,

He don' t plant cotton,

And dem dat plant'em is soon forgotten,

But old man river,

He just keeps rolling along.

You and me we sweat and strain,

Body all aching and rocked wid pain.

Tote dat barge and lift dat bale,

Get a little drunk and you'll land in jail.

But I keep laughing instead of crying,

I must keep fighting until I'm dying,

But old man river,

He just keeps rolling along.