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::(JULIE sings...)
::''Fish got to swim, birds got to fly,''
::''I gotta love one man till I die,''
::''Can't help lovin' dat man of mine.''
::(MAGNOLIA recognizes the song):
::''That's it...''
::(QUEENIE, re-entering, stops in her tracks and appears puzzled.)
::(JULIE continues singing...)
::''Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow,''
::''Tell me I'm crazy (maybe I know)''
::''Can't help lovin' dat man of mine.''
::(QUEENIE questions how would white people know the song):
::''How come y'all know dat song?''
:: (...remainder omitted due to copyright restrictions...)
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In its own way, the song is almost as controversial as the song "[[Ol' Man River]]" (also from ''Show Boat'') because of some phrases, though its lyrics have caused less of an uproar because the "offensive" portion is sung not by Julie but by Queenie, and is therefore not usually heard outside the show. In her section of the song, Queenie sings about Joe:
::''My man is shiftless,''
::''An' good for nothin', too.''
::''He's my man just the same.''
::''He's never 'round here''
::''When there is work to do,''
::''He's never 'round here when there's workin' to do.''
This lyric was included in every production of ''Show Boat'' up until 1966, except for the 1951 film version, in which this section of the song was simply omitted. In the 1966 [[Lincoln Center]] production of the show, produced during the height of the [[Civil Rights]] era, this part of the lyric was completely rewritten by an uncredited writer to avoid any controversy, and it has remained that way ever since – except in the now-famous [[EMI]] 3-CD album set of ''Show Boat'', released in 1988. The revised lyric went:
::''My man's a dreamer,''
::''He don't have much to say''
::''He's my man just the same''
::''Instead o' workin,''
::''He sits and dreams all day,''
::''Instead o' workin', he'll be dreamin' all day.''
The 1951 film version of ''Show Boat'' went even one step further than the 1966 stage revival in "smoothing out" any "edginess" about the song, by omitting all reference to it as one sung for years by [[African-Americans]], and thereby omitting the section in which Queenie remarks that it is strange for Julie to know the song. In the 1951 film, the song is simply a love song Julie sings about her husband Steve, not a folk tune. Lena Horne also sings it this way in ''Till the Clouds Roll By''.
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