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Alexander's Ragtime Band
Old-Time, Jazz tune & Song. Irving Berlin, music and lyrics;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes. DATE: 1910;
ARTIST: Bill Murray
MP3: Listen to Bill Murray's 1911 recording
SHEET MUSIC: http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/hasm_a5378/
SOURCES: Folk Index; Wiki
HISTORY: Vaudeville singer Emma Carus, famed for her "female baritone", is said to have been largely responsible for successfully introducing the song in Chicago and helping contribute to its immense popularity. It became identified with her, and soon worked its way back to New York where Al Jolson also began to perform it.
The song has been recorded by many artists, including The Andrews Sisters, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Bee Gees, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, George Formby, Al Jolson, Liberace, Billy Murray, Liza Minnelli, Sid Phillips, Bessie Smith and Julie Andrews.
The song had a presence on the charts for five straight decades. According to Newsweek Magazine:
Four different versions of the tune charted at # 1, # 2, # 3 and # 4 in 1911 including one by Arthur Collins which stayed at number one for 10 weeks:
Bessie Smith's version made the top 20 in 1927.
Louis Armstrong made the top 20 with it in 1937.
A duet by Bing Crosby and Connee Boswell hit #1 in 1938.
Johnny Mercer charted a swing version in 1945.
Bing Crosby recorded another duet version, and hit the top-20 in 1947 with Al Jolson.
Nellie Lutcher put it on the R&B charts in 1948.
Bob Wills put it on the c&w charts in the same decade.
Johnnie Ray sang it on the silver screen in 20th Century Fox's musical There's No Business Like Show Business in 1954.
Ella Fitzgerald scored with it in 1958, and received a Grammy for her Irving Berlin anthology in 1959.
Ray Charles recorded it in 1959 for his album The Genius of Ray Charles.
Bee Gees used the music in their tour in 1974, and sang it on The Midnight Special TV show in 1973.
A 1938 film of the same name was loosely based on the song.
The song is referenced in the Emerson, Lake and Palmer song "Karn Evil 9".
A version of the song set to a disco beat was recorded by Ethel Merman for her infamous Ethel Merman Disco Album in 1979.
A snippet of the chorus of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" can be heard toward the end of Taco's 1982 cover of "Puttin' on the Ritz", a number 4 hit in the United States.
The song was used in Tennessee politics by Lamar Alexander, a trained pianist, Governor of Tennessee and U.S. Senator, who performed the song for campaign events, including during his 1996 run for the Republican presidential nomination.
The song was in the White Star Line Songbook onboard the R.M.S. Titanic was played in the 1st Class Lounge early on in the sinking. This is portrayed in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster, Titanic.
The Georgia Tech Pep Band plays the song before every men's and women's home basketball games.
Nowadays, Liza Minnelli tends to open her concerts with the song.
RECORDING INFO: Alexander's Ragtime Band [Me II-AC 3] - Berlin, Irving
Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p 76
Herder, Ronald (ed.) / 500 Best-Loved Song Lyrics, Dover dn500/500, Sof (1998), p 6
Borcher, Bill;'s Oregon Jazz Band. 50-5, Borcher, Cas (1998), trk# B.01
Dawn of the Century Orchestra. Dawn of the Century Orchestra, Byg BYG-529137, LP (1972), trk# 11
Gottlieb's Orchestra. Young Irving Berlin, World Records SH 275, LP (1978), trk# A.01
Smeck, Roy. Smeck, Roy / Irving Berlin Songs, Irving Berlin Music, sof (1950), p10
NOTES: "Alexander's Ragtime Band" is the name of a song by Irving Berlin. It was his first major hit, in 1911. There is some evidence, although inconclusive, that Berlin borrowed the melody from a draft composition submitted by Scott Joplin that had been submitted to a publisher.
The song is not a ragtime song but uses ragtime sycopation and ragtime melodies.
ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND
VERSE 1:
Oh, ma hon-ey, oh, ma hon-ey, bet-ter hur-ry and let's me-an-der
Ain't you go-in'? Ain't you go-in'? To the lea-der-man, rag-ged me-ter man?
Oh, ma hon-ey, oh, ma hon-ey, Let me take you to Al-ex-an-der's
Grand stand brass band, ain't you com-in' a-long?
CHORUS:
Come on and hear! Come on and hear! Al-ex-an-der's rag-time band!
Come on and hear! Come on and hear! It's the best band in the land!
They can play a bu-gle call like you nev-er heard be-fore
So nat-u-ral that you want to go to war
That's just the best-est band what am, ma hon-ey lamb
Come on a-long, come on a-long, let me take you by the hand
Up to the man, up to the man, who's the lead-er of the band
And if you care to hear the Swa-nee Riv-er played in rag-time
Come on and hear, come on and hear,
Al-ex-an-der's Rag-Time Band.
VERSE 2:
Oh, ma honey, oh, ma honey There's a fiddle with notes that screeches,
Like a chicken, like a chicken And the clarinet Is a colored pet,
Come and listen, come and listen, To a classical band what's peaches,
Come now, somehow, Better hurry along.
CHORUS:
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