# Lyrics to Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282 "2003-01-08T12:52:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282/21 "2013-08-08T18:30:27Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > “Bwwaaaaahhh??” Then [this](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ragtime+composers) should be a revelation. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282/22 "2013-08-08T18:54:20Z")
[These](http://www.connifflyrics.com.br/the_entertainer.htm) are the lyrics I learned in school – apparently as recorded by Ray Conniff. If I ever see that music teacher again he’s a dead man. Even when it was uber-over exposed after The Sting came out, it was a nice piece of music but 40 years later it’s still marred in my mind by those inane, juvenile lyrics. I can’t get them out of my head; I don’t want them there and someone should pay! ---
**Author:** ![shrdlu518](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@shrdlu518](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrdlu518)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282/23 "2018-02-23T05:34:54Z")
> [@adamburr](#): > > I remember a bit more… (I was very young when I learned this, about 35 years ago so please forgive any errors) > > Now the curtain is going up > The entertainer is taking a bow > Does his dance step and sings his song > Even get all the audience to sing along > [snipped] > > Regards, > > Adam I have a collection _75 Super Blockbusters for ‘74_ with those lyrics credited to John Brimhall. He was a very prolific musical arranger. This would have been one of his ways to make classics accessible to beginning players. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282/24 "2018-02-23T13:05:50Z")
What’s weirder is Scott Joplin’s breakthrough hit _Maple Leaf Rag_ also has lyrics. That song is not made for lyrics. “Go 'way man, I can hypnotize the nation, I can shake the earth’s foundation with the Maple Leaf Rag. Go 'way man, just hold your breath a minute, 'Cause there’s not a stunt that’s in it with the Maple Leaf Rag.” Yeah, those lyrics suck. I’m glad the song survived them. Would it surprise anyone that the Charleston dance song had lyrics too? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282/25 "2018-02-23T19:28:30Z")
Let’s play the Zombie Rag!! ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282/26 "2018-02-23T23:23:50Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > What’s weirder is Scott Joplin’s breakthrough hit _Maple Leaf Rag_ also has lyrics. That song is not made for lyrics. > > “Go 'way man, I can hypnotize the nation, > I can shake the earth’s foundation with the Maple Leaf Rag. > Go 'way man, just hold your breath a minute, > 'Cause there’s not a stunt that’s in it with the Maple Leaf Rag.” > > Yeah, those lyrics suck. I’m glad the song survived them. > > Would it surprise anyone that the Charleston dance song had lyrics too? Please tell me the lyricists have kept their filthy paws off my beloved “Elite Syncopations”. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282/27 "2018-02-24T01:52:32Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Please tell me the lyricists have kept their filthy paws off my beloved “Elite Syncopations”. As far as I know, they have. That piece is supposedly an instrumental representation of the romantic advances of a bold Progressive Era man toward a prim and elagant woman who flirts back in a very proper way until the glorious finale that is their union as a couple. Words for this are best left to the imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282/28 "2018-02-24T02:47:28Z")
Aw, I actually kinda like the Maple Leaf Rag lyrics. “Hypnotize the nation/Shake the earth’s foundation” is pretty darn good IMHO and fits the complexity of the music quite well. I do like the lyrics to Pineapple Rag better: “Hear me sigh, hear me cry/For that Pineapple Rag What a dream! It sure does seem/Like heaven when we drag…” There’s also a line going something like “talk like that is out of season/What I like is something pleasing/Pineapple Rag for mine.” Again, the lyrics fit the music quite well. IMHO anyway. Inspired? Nah. Fun? Sure. Appropriate for the time period? Absolutely. I think the music works best without the lyrics but the words certainly don’t bother me. Should perhaps be noted that the lyrics for both of these two rags were created during Joplin’s lifetime. Perhaps with his input (if memory serves) and certainly with his blessing. It helped that this was another source of income for someone who often didn’t have very much money. My understanding is that the lyrics for the Entertainer were not from Joplin’s own time, but date from many years afterwards. Thus, less “authentic “ for those who care about such things. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282/29 "2018-02-24T03:18:01Z")
The only Scott Joplin music where I want to hear lyrics are in his opera _Treemonisha_. I was a subscriber to Chicago’s Lyric Opera for about twenty years, and they never did perform it. Douches. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-to-scott-joplins-the-entertainer/147282.md?page=1)