Songs of Free Men

1943 studio album by Paul Robeson

Songs of Free Men

Studio album by

Paul Robeson

Released

1943

Recorded

1942

Label

Columbia Masterworks

Paul Robeson chronology

Chee Lai – Songs of New China
(1941)

Songs of Free Men
(1943)

Spirituals
(1946)

*Songs of Free Men* (1943)
Review scores
Source	Rating
Billboard	Positive^[1]

*Songs of Free Men* / *Spirituals*
(budget LP, 1968)
Review scores
Source	Rating
Billboard	^[2]

Songs of Free Men is a studio album by Paul Robeson, recorded in early 1942 and released on Columbia Masterworks in 1943.

Track listing

The album was originally issued in 1943 as a set of four 10-inch 78-r.p.m. records, catalog number MM 543.^[3]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Comments
1.	"From Border to Border" (from Quiet Flows the Don)	Dzerzhinky	Sung in English and Russian
2.	"Oh, How Proud Our Quiet Don" (from Quiet Flows the Don)	Dzerzhinky	Sung in English and Russian
3.	"The Purest Kind of a Guy" ("Joe's Birthday Song" from No for an Answer)	Blitzstein	Sung in English
4.	"Joe Hill"	E. Robinson A. Hayes	Sung in English
5.	"The Peat-Bog Soldiers" ("Moorsoldaten": song from a German concentration camp)		Sung in English and German
6.	"The Four Insurgent Generals" (Spanish loyalist song)	Arr. Eisler	Sung in English and Spanish
7.	"Native Land"	Dunayevsky	Sung in Russian and English
8.	"Song of the Plains" (Red Army song)	Arr. Knipper	Sung in English and Russian

Charts

*Songs of Free Men* (1998)
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[4]

In 1998, the album had a re-release on CD with 17 additional tracks including "Ol' Man River" from Showboat.^[5] It charted on Billboard's classical albums chart at number 47.^[6] Later, in the critics' poll published at the end of the year, the magazine's editor-in-chief Timothy White would list it among the best albums of 1998, at number 10 (tied with another Robeson's album, The Peace Arc Concerts).^[7]

Chart (1998)	Peak position
US Top Classical Albums (Billboard)^[6]	47

References

^ Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 27 March 1943. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
^ Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 21 December 1968. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
^ "Paul Robeson - Songs Of Free Men". Discogs. Archived from the original on 2023-04-07. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
^ "Paul Robeson - Songs of Free Men: Recital". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2023-04-09. Retrieved 2023-04-09.
^ "Paul Robeson - Songs Of Free Men". Archived from the original on 2023-04-07. Retrieved 2023-04-07 – via www.discogs.com.
^ ^a ^b "Paul Robeson Chart History (Top Classical Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
^ "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. December 26, 1998. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023 – via Google Books.