Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man is a blues-tempo torch song from Jerome Kern's and Oscar Hammerstein II's 1927 Broadway musical Show Boat, adapted from Edna Ferber's 1926 novel. The tune is sung in the show by Julie, a biracial performer who is secretly passing as white, making the number a dramatic moment about love across social boundaries. It was originally popularized by Helen Morgan as Julie in the 1927 stage production and has since been associated with Lena Horne in Till the Clouds Roll By (1946). The song recurs in the show's plot—during Act I and again in Act II as an audition piece—and is performed in a bluesy show-tune style. It is one of Kern and Hammerstein's best known numbers and has been recorded many times on Show Boat cast albums and film soundtracks, including the 1959 cast album; the piece entered the public domain on January 1, 2023.
