# Recent ragtime hits **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160 "2009-10-26T11:19:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [October 26, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/1 "2009-10-26T11:19:59Z")
I was always under the impression that the popularity of ragtime died out in the late 1910s. I was surprised to find, then, a tack piano ragtime recording, “The Black and White Rag” by Winnifred Atwell, on a collection of 1950s hits. Apparently she made the UK charts in 1952, and the song became quite popular again in the 1970s when it was used as the theme for a television show. Further research indicates that a recording of Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” got to #3 on the US charts in 1974. Have there been any other instances of ragtime music charting since, oh, WWII? Also, what was the most recent original ragtime hit? (Both “The Black and White Rag” and “The Entertainer” were already over 50 years old when their recordings made the charts.) ---
**Author:** ![robert\_bobson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ba0ec/32.png) [@robert\_bobson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_bobson)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/2 "2013-04-16T13:52:05Z")
I ran across this DVD of ragtime pianist Bob Milne that’s GREAT! It says volume 1 on it - don’t know if there are any other volumes out there or not… [http://www.echosparkfilms.com/milneconcert.html](http://www.echosparkfilms.com/milneconcert.html) ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/3 "2013-04-16T13:58:04Z")
There was something of a revival shortly after WWII concurrent with the popularity of the movie The Jolson Story, which caused a brief surge in musical nostalgia. I’ll have to check my references (which I don’t have with me) for anything later. This doesn’t really count the “I Feel Like I’m Fixing To Die Rag” by Country Joe & the Fish (1967), of course. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/4 "2013-04-16T15:06:17Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Further research indicates that a recording of Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” got to #3 on the US charts in 1974. It was used in the film [The Sting.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070735/?ref_=sr_1) Everyone’s girl friend wanted to see it, for it had Robert Redford \*and \*Paul Newman. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/5 "2013-04-16T16:11:35Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > This doesn’t really count the “I Feel Like I’m Fixing To Die Rag” by Country Joe & the Fish (1967), of course. Which of course resembles “Muskrat Ramble.” Phil Ochs’ “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends” featured some terrific ragtime piano by classical pianist Lincoln Mayorga. I don’t remember if it was a “hit” but it got a lot of airplay in the 60’s. . ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/6 "2013-04-16T16:50:21Z")
[“You’ve Got a Friend in Me”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB2gPZRsz0Q) - Randy Newman. Last charted in 2010. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/7 "2013-04-16T17:19:26Z")
The piano interlude that starts at 1:57 of Thunderclap Newman’s 1969 [Something in the Air](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8zmkzshUvE) I believe counts as ragtime. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/8 "2013-04-16T17:51:40Z")
There’s a short sampling of Irving Berlin’s “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” in Taco’s Puttin’ on the Ritz (1981). I’ll try to find whole songs later. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/9 "2013-04-16T19:02:58Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > [“You’ve Got a Friend in Me”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB2gPZRsz0Q) - Randy Newman. Last charted in 2010. How do you figure that’s a ragtime piece? ---
**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:** [April 16, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/10 "2013-04-16T19:08:11Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > The piano interlude that starts at 1:57 of Thunderclap Newman’s 1969 [Something in the Air](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8zmkzshUvE) I believe counts as ragtime. Oh, so that’s what it’s supposed to be? I like ragtime but [I always hated that solo](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=468574). ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/11 "2013-04-16T19:17:59Z")
From the Wiki: In the early 1940s many jazz bands began to include ragtime in their repertoire, and as early as 1936 78 rpm records of Joplin’s compositions were produced. Old numbers written for piano were rescored for jazz instruments by jazz musicians, which gave the old style a new sound. The most famous recording of this period is Pee Wee Hunt’s version of Euday L. Bowman’s “Twelfth Street Rag.” A more significant revival occurred in the 1950s. A wider variety of ragtime styles of the past were made available on records, and new rags were composed, published, and recorded. Much of the ragtime recorded in this period is presented in a light-hearted novelty style, looked to with nostalgia as the product of a supposedly more innocent time. A number of popular recordings featured “prepared pianos,” playing rags on pianos with tacks on the hammers and the instrument deliberately somewhat out of tune, supposedly to simulate the sound of a piano in an old honky tonk. Three events brought forward a different kind of ragtime revival in the 1970s. First, pianist Joshua Rifkin brought out a compilation of Scott Joplin’s work, Scott Joplin: Piano Rags, on Nonesuch Records, which was nominated for a Grammy in the “Best Classical Performance - Instrumental Soloist(s) without Orchestra” category[9] in 1971. This recording reintroduced Joplin’s music to the public in the manner the composer had intended, not as a nostalgic stereotype but as serious, respectable music. Second, the New York Public Library released a two-volume set of “The Collected Works of Scott Joplin,” which renewed interest in Joplin among musicians and prompted new stagings of Joplin’s opera Treemonisha. Next came the release and Grammy Award for The New England Ragtime Ensemble’s recording of Joplin’s Red Back Book. Finally, with the release of the motion picture The Sting in 1973, which had a Marvin Hamlisch soundtrack of Joplin tunes originally edited by Gunther Schuller, ragtime was brought to a wide audience. Hamlisch’s rendering of Joplin’s 1902 rag “The Entertainer” won an Academy Award, and was an American Top 40 hit in 1974, reaching #3 on 18 May. Significant ragtime composers of the mid- to late-20th century include Max Morath, William Bolcom, Trebor Tichenor, David Thomas Roberts, and Reginald Robinson. In 1998, an adaption of E.L. Doctorow’s historic novel, Ragtime was produced on Broadway. With music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, the show featured several rags as well as songs in other musical genres. In modern times, younger musicians have again begun to find ragtime, and incorporate it into their musical repertoires. Such acts include Jay Chou, The Kitchen Syncopators, Inkwell Rhythm Makers, Curtains for you, The Gallus Brothers and the not-quite as young Baby Gramps or Bob Milne. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/12 "2013-04-16T20:04:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It was used in the film [The Sting.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070735/?ref_=sr_1) Everyone’s girl friend wanted to see it, for it had Robert Redford \*and \*Paul Newman. 🙂 Indeed…the popularity of _The Sting_, which, as **Prof. Pepperwinkle** ’s Wiki quote shows, used Joplin’s music extensively, fueled a brief resurgence in interest in ragtime music (particularly “The Entertainer” and “Maple Leaf Rag”). At my grade school talent show in 1975, I think five or six different kids played “The Entertainer” on the piano. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/13 "2013-04-16T20:16:52Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It was used in the film [The Sting.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070735/?ref_=sr_1) Everyone’s girl friend wanted to see it, for it had Robert Redford \*and \*Paul Newman. 🙂 Indeed—in the three of four years since posting this thread I had the chance to see this wonderful movie. The soundtrack was great but seemed anachronistic to me; the film was set in the 1930s, when ragtime hadn’t been popular for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/14 "2013-04-16T20:45:10Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > How do you figure that’s a ragtime piece? The tempo? The arrangement? I’m no expert on the genre, but Newman has a history of flirting with ragtime music - for instance, he wrote the soundtrack to the movie \*Ragtime \*- and to my untrained ear, the song seems like a decent homage. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/15 "2013-04-16T23:16:04Z")
A rag is a modified march accompanied by a syncopated (“ragged”) rhythm. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/16 "2013-04-16T23:43:59Z")
Well, going through my collection of Joel Whitburn/Billboard books all that I came up with is 1950’s _Rag Mop_ by the Mills Brothers (aside from \*The Entertainer \*as mentioned above). The Internet Archive has an awful lot of ragtime in the public domain. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/17 "2013-04-17T03:38:28Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > A rag is a modified march accompanied by a syncopated (“ragged”) rhythm. I understand and hear the march, but what does it mean, “syncopated”? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/18 "2013-04-17T05:20:37Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Indeed…the popularity of _The Sting_, which, as **Prof. Pepperwinkle** ’s Wiki quote shows, used Joplin’s music extensively, fueled a brief resurgence in interest in ragtime music (particularly “The Entertainer” and “Maple Leaf Rag”). At my grade school talent show in 1975, I think five or six different kids played “The Entertainer” on the piano. Joshua Rifkin released three superb albums of Scott Joplin’s rags, on the Nonesuch label, at least two years before _The Sting_ appeared in theaters. My impression at the time was that Marvin Hamlisch jumped on a bandwagon, the ragtime revival already well underway. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/19 "2013-04-17T06:33:17Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It was used in the film [The Sting.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070735/?ref_=sr_1) Everyone’s girl friend wanted to see it, for it had Robert Redford \*and \*Paul Newman. 🙂 And for years afterward, people incorrectly called the _song_ “The Sting”. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I understand and hear the march, but what does it mean, “syncopated”? > **[Syncopation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur". It is the correlation of at least two sets of time intervals. > Syncopation is used in many musical styles,\[citation needed\] such as electronic dance music. According to music produc... ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160/20 "2013-04-17T09:13:12Z")
Joplin’s “Weeping Willow” is one of my top-10 best musical pieces. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-ragtime-hits/515160.md?page=2)