"Alexander's Ragtime Band" is a
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...
song by American composer
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...
released in 1911; it is often inaccurately cited as his first global hit. Despite its title, the song is a
march
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...
as opposed to a
rag and contains little
syncopation
In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat (music), off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of ...
. The song is a narrative sequel to Berlin's earlier 1910 composition "Alexander and His Clarinet". This earlier composition recounts the reconciliation between an
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
musician named Alexander Adams and his flame Eliza Johnson as well as highlights Alexander's innovative musical style. Berlin's friend Jack Alexander, a cornet-playing African-American bandleader, inspired the title character.
Emma Carus, a famous
contralto
A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types.
The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...
renowned for her high
lung power, introduced Berlin's song to the public in Spring 1911. Carus' brassy performance of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" at the
American Music Hall in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
on April 18, 1911, electrified the audience, and she toured other metropolises such as
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
and
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
with acclaimed performances that featured the catchy tune. Carus' tour showcased the song in the United States and contributed to its immense popularity.
Amid the success of Carus' national tour, the comedic duo of
Arthur Collins and
Byron G. Harlan released a
phonograph recording of the song on May 23, 1911, which became the best-selling record in the United States for ten consecutive weeks. Soon after, Berlin's jaunty melody "sold a million copies of
sheet music
Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...
in 1911, then another million in 1912, and continued to sell for years afterwards," and it became "the number one song from October 1911 through January 1912." Although not a traditional ragtime song, Berlin's composition kickstarted a ragtime
jubilee—a belated celebration of the music which African-Americans had originated a decade prior in the 1890s. The positive international reception of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" led to a musical and dance revival known as "the ragtime craze".
Nearly two decades later, singer
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1892 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was t ...
recorded a 1927 cover which became one of the
hit song
A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...
s of that year. The song's popularity re-surged in 1934 with the release of a
close harmony cover by the
Boswell Sisters, and a 1938
musical film of the same name starring
Tyrone Power and
Alice Faye. A variety of artists covered the song such as
Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson, ; May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-born American singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian.
Self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," Jolson was one of the United States' most famous and ...
,
Billy Murray,
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
,
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
, and others. The song had at least a dozen hit covers within fifty years of its release.
History
Composition and difficulties
In March 1911, the
Ted Snyder Company in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
employed the 23-year-old Irving Berlin as a
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...
songwriter. One morning after arriving at work, Berlin decided to compose an instrumental
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
number. By this time, the ragtime phenomenon popularized by
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...
Scott Joplin and other African-American musicians had begun to wane, and over a decade had passed since the syncopated genre's initial heyday in the
Gay Nineties
The Gay Nineties is an American nostalgic term and a periodization of the history of the United States referring to the decade of the 1890s. It is known in the United Kingdom as the Naughty Nineties, and refers there to the decade of supposedl ...
.
A tireless
workaholic
A workaholic is a person who works Compulsive behavior, compulsively. A workaholic experiences an inability to limit the amount of time they spend on work despite negative consequences such as damage to their relationships or health.
There is no ...
, Berlin composed the piece while in the noisy offices of
Ted Snyder's music
publishing firm where "five or six pianos and as many vocalists were making bedlam with songs of the day." Berlin composed the lyrics of the song as a narrative sequel to his earlier 1910 composition "Alexander and His Clarinet". This earlier composition recounts the reconciliation between an
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
musician named Alexander Adams and his flame Eliza Johnson as well as highlights Alexander's innovative musical style. Berlin's friend Jack Alexander, a cornet-playing African-American bandleader, inspired the title character.
By the next day, Berlin completed four pages of notes for the
copyist
A copyist is a person who makes duplications of the same thing. The modern use of the term is mainly confined to music copyists, who are employed by the music industry to produce neat copies from a composer or arranger's manuscript. However, the ...
-
arranger
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...
. Berlin registered the song in the name of the Ted Snyder Company as E252990 and published it on March 18, 1911. Upon playing the composition for others, listeners criticized the song as too lengthy ("running beyond the
conventional 32 bars"),
too rangy, and not "a real ragtime number". In fact, the tune is a
march
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...
as opposed to a rag and barely contains a trace of
syncopation
In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat (music), off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of ...
. Its sole notability consists of quotes from ''
Swanee River'' and a
bugle call
A bugle call is a short tune, originating as a military signal announcing scheduled and certain non-scheduled events on a military installation, battlefield, or ship. Historically, bugles, drums, and other loud musical instruments were used ...
. Due to such criticisms, the tune unimpressed listeners at the Ted Snyder Company.
Undaunted by the lackluster response, Berlin submitted the song to
Jesse L. Lasky, a
Broadway theater producer planning an extravagant debut for his nightclub theater called the Follies Bergère. Lasky hesitated to incorporate the
pseudo-ragtime number into his show. When the show opened on April 27, 1911, Lasky chose only to use its melody whistled by performer
Otis Harlan
Otis Harlan (December 29, 1865 – January 20, 1940) was an American actor and comedian. He voiced Happy, one of the Seven Dwarfs in the Disney animated film '' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''. This made him the earliest born actor to feature ...
. Thus the song failed to find an appreciative audience.
Fortunately for Berlin,
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
singer and
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
Emma Carus liked his humorous composition, and she introduced the song on April 18, 1911, at the
American Music Hall in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. She next embarked on a tour of
the Midwest in Spring 1911. Consequently, music historians credit Carus for showcasing the song to the country and helping contribute to its immense popularity. In gratitude, Berlin credited Carus on the cover of the sheet music. The catchy song became indelibly linked with Carus in the public consciousness, although rival performers such as
Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson, ; May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-born American singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian.
Self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," Jolson was one of the United States' most famous and ...
later co-opted the hit tune.
Amid the success of Carus' national tour, the comedic duo of
Arthur Collins and
Byron G. Harlan released a
phonograph recording of the song on May 23, 1911, which became the best-selling record in the United States for ten consecutive weeks. Five days later, Berlin performed the song himself on May 28, 1911, in a special charity performance of the first ''Friars Frolic'' by the
New York Friars Club at the
New Amsterdam Theater. A fellow composer in attendance,
George M. Cohan, instantly recognized the
catchiness
Catchiness is how easy it is for a song, tune, or phrase to be recalled. It is often taken into account when writing songs, catchphrases, advertising slogans, jingles etc. Alternatively, it can be defined as how difficult it is for one to forget i ...
of the tune and told Berlin that the song would be an obvious hit. Soon after, Berlin's jaunty melody "sold a million copies of
sheet music
Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...
in 1911, then another million in 1912, and continued to sell for years afterwards." ''Alexander's Ragtime Band'' became "the number one song from October 1911 through January 1912."
Cultural sensation
Although neither Irving Berlin's first commercial hit nor his first composition to attract international attention, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" nevertheless catapulted Berlin's career. American newspapers hailed Berlin's jumpy tune as the decade's musical sensation, and he became a
cultural luminary over night. An adoring international press subsequently touted him as the "King of Ragtime", an inaccurate title as the song "had little to do with ragtime and everything to do with ragtime audacity, alerting
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
to hot times in
the colonies." Baffled by this new title, Berlin publicly insisted that he did not originate ragtime but merely "crystallized it and brought it to people's attention." Historian
Mark Sullivan later claimed that, with the auspicious debut of "Alexander's Ragtime Band", Berlin abruptly "lifted ragtime from the depths of sordid dives to the
apotheosis
Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity.
The origina ...
of fashionable vogue."
Although not a traditional ragtime song, Berlin's jaunty composition kickstarted a ragtime
jubilee—a belated popular celebration of the musical style which African-American composers such as
Scott Joplin had originated a decade earlier in the 1890s. The positive international reception of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1911 led to a musical and dance revival known as "the ragtime craze".

At the time, ragtime music caught "its
second wind" and ragtime dancing spread "like wildfire." One dancing couple in particular who exemplified this
fad
A fad, trend, or craze is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation, or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short time period.
Fads are objects or behaviors tha ...
dish sensation were
Vernon and Irene Castle. The charismatic, trendsetting duo frequently danced to Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and his other
modernist
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
compositions. The Castles'
modern dancing paired with Berlin's
modern songs came to embody the ongoing
culture clash between the waning propriety of the
Edwardian era
In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...
and the waxing joviality of the Ragtime revolution on the eve of
World . The ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
'' wrote in 1913 that:
Writers such as
Edward Jablonski and
Ian Whitcomb have emphasized the irony that, in the
1910s, even the
upper class
Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper cla ...
of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
—a
reactionary
In politics, a reactionary is a person who favors a return to a previous state of society which they believe possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary.''The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought'' Third Edition, (1999) p. 729. ...
nation from which Berlin's
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
forebears had been
compelled to flee decades earlier—became enamored with "the ragtime beat with an abandon bordering on
mania
Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a Psychiatry, psychiatric Abnormality (behavior), behavioral syndrome defined as a state of Abnormality (behavior), abnormally elevated arousal, affect (psychology), affect, and energy level. During a mani ...
." Specifically,
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
socialite
A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...
Lady Diana Cooper described Prince
Felix Yusupov, an affluent
Russian aristocrat who married the niece of
Tsar Nicholas II and later murdered
Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin ( – ) was a Russian Mysticism, mystic and faith healer. He is best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II of Russia, Nicholas II, the last Emperor of all the Russias, Emperor of Russia, th ...
, as dancing "around the
ballroom like a demented worm" and shouting, "More ragtime!"
Hearing of such behavior, commentators diagnosed such individuals as "bitten by the ragtime bug" and behaving like "a dog with
rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia ("fear of water") because its victims panic when offered liquids to drink. Early symptoms can include fever and abn ...
." They declared that "whether
he ragtime maniais simply a passing phase of our
decadent culture or an
infectious disease
An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...
which has come to stay, like ''
la grippe'' or
leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...
, time alone can show."
Continued popularity

As the years passed, Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" had many recurrent manifestations as many artists covered it:
Billy Murray, in 1912;
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1892 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was t ...
, in 1927;
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit, Oswald Rabbit, and Ozzie) is an animated series, animated cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short film ...
, in 1930; the
Boswell Sisters, in 1934;
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
, in 1937;
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
and
Connee Boswell, in 1938;
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Wallichs Music Cit ...
, in 1945; Al Jolson, in 1947;
Nellie Lutcher, in 1948, and
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
in 1959. Consequently, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" had a dozen hit covers within the half-a-century prior to 1960.
Reflecting decades later upon the song's unlikely success, Berlin confessed his amazement at its immediate global acclaim and continued popularity. He ascribed its unexpected success to the
farcical and silly lyrics which were "fundamentally right" and "started the heels and shoulders of all America and a good section of Europe to rocking."
In 1937,
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
approached Irving Berlin to write a
story treatment for an upcoming film tentatively titled ''
Alexander's Ragtime Band''. Berlin agreed to write a story outline for the film which featured twenty-six of Berlin's well-known musical scores.
During press interviews promoting the film prior to its premiere, Berlin decried articles by the American press which painted ragtime as
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
's forerunner. Berlin stated: "Ragtime really shouldn't be called 'the forerunner of jazz' or 'the father of jazz' because, as everyone will tell when they hear some of the old rags, ragtime and jazz are the same."
Released on August 5, 1938, ''Alexander's Ragtime Band'' starring
Tyrone Power,
Alice Faye, and
Don Ameche
Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, repertory theatre, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 19 ...
became a smash hit and grossed in excess of five million dollars. Soon after the film's release, writer Marie Cooper Dieckhaus filed a
plagiarism
Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...
lawsuit. After Dieckhaus presented evidence at the trial, a federal judge ruled in Dieckhaus' favor that Berlin had stolen the plot of her unpublished 1937 manuscript and used many of its elements for the film. Dieckhaus had submitted the unpublished manuscript in 1937 to various
Hollywood studios,
literary agents, and other individuals for their perusal. The judge believed that, after rejecting her manuscript, Berlin nonetheless appropriated much of her work. In 1946, an
appellate court
An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...
reversed the ruling on
appeal
In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...
.
Alleged plagiarism

There are allegations that Berlin purloined the
melody
A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...
for "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (in particular, the four notes of "oh, ma honey") from drafts of "Mayflower Rag" and "A Real Slow Drag" by prolific composer Scott Joplin. Berlin and Joplin were acquaintances in New York, and Berlin had opportunities to hear Joplin's scores prior to publication. At the time, "one of Berlin's functions at the Ted Snyder Music Company was to be on the lookout for publishable music by other composers."
Allegedly, Berlin "heard Joplin's music in one of the offices, played by a staff musician (since Berlin could not read music) or by Joplin himself." According to one account:
Joplin's
widow
A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...
claimed that, "after Scott had finished writing ''
Treemonisha'', and while he was showing it around, hoping to get it published,
erlinstole the theme, and made it into a popular song. The number was quite a hit, too, but that didn't do Scott any good." A relative of
John Stillwell Stark, Joplin's music publisher, asserted "the publication of 'Alexander's Ragtime Band' brought Joplin to tears because it was his
wncomposition." Joplin later died bankrupt after undertaking the financial burden of his unsuccessful ''Treemonisha'' opera and was buried in a pauper's grave (remaining unmarked for 57 years) in
Queens, New York
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, on April 1, 1917. As writer Edward A. Berlin notes in ''King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era'':
For the next half-century, Berlin was incensed by the allegation that a "'
black boy' had written 'Alexander's Ragtime Band'." Responding to his detractors, Berlin stated: "If a negro could write 'Alexander,' why couldn't I? ... If they could produce the negro and he had another hit like 'Alexander' in his system, I would choke it out of him and give him twenty thousands dollars in the bargain." In 1914, Berlin referenced the allegation in the lyrics of his composition "He's A Rag Picker." The song features a verse in which a "
black character" named Mose claims authorship of "Alexander's Ragtime Band."
Lyrical implications
Although the 1911 sheet music cover drawn by artist John Frew depicts the band's musicians as either
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
or
biracial
The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more
races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...
, Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band"—and his earlier 1910 composition "Alexander and His Clarinet"—employ certain
idiomatic expressions ("oh, ma honey", "honey lamb") and
vernacular English ("bestest band what am") in the lyrics to indicate to the listener that the characters in the song should be understood to be
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
.
For example, an often-omitted and
risqué
Risqué may refer to:
* Material deemed slightly indecent or liable to shock, especially sexual suggestiveness
* ''Risqué'' (album), 1979 recording by American disco band Chic
* Risque (comics), mutant character first appearing in Marvel Comic ...
second verse identifies the race of Alexander's clarinet player:
Sheet music
Image:Alexander's Ragtime Band 1.jpeg, Page 1
Image:Alexander's Ragtime Band 2.jpeg, Page 2
Image:Alexander's Ragtime Band 3.jpeg, Page 3
Image:Alexander's Ragtime Band 4.jpeg, Page 4
Image:Alexander's Ragtime Band 5.jpeg, Page 5
Recorded versions
Bessie Smith and Her Blue Boys recorded Alexander's Ragtime Band on Columbia Records in 1927.
See also
*
Ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
*
Scott Joplin
*
List of pre-1920 jazz standards
*
When Alexander Takes His Ragtime Band to France
*
List of best-selling sheet music
References
Notes
Citations
Works cited
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External links
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" (Centennial Tribute)"Alexander's Ragtime Band" Sheet Music (David M. Rubenstein Manuscript Library)"Alexander's Ragtime Band" by Billy Murray(
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project)
{{authority control
Rags by Irving Berlin
1911 songs
1910s jazz standards
Songs written by Irving Berlin
Songs about jazz
Songs about musicians
Billy Murray (singer) songs
Bessie Smith songs
Louis Armstrong songs
Belle Baker songs
Johnnie Ray songs
Dick and Dee Dee songs
Vaudeville songs
Al Jolson songs