| "Alexander's Ragtime Band" | |
|---|---|
 Cover of 1911 sheet music by artist John Frew[1] | |
| Single byArthur Collins &Byron G. Harlan | |
| Language | English |
| A-side | "Ocean Roll" byEddie Morton[2] |
| Released | March 18, 1911[3] (sheet music registration) |
| Recorded | May 23, 1911 (1911-05-23)[4] (phonograph recording) |
| Studio | Victor Records |
| Venue | Camden, New Jersey |
| Genre | |
| Length | 3:03[4] |
| Label | Victor 16908[4] |
| Songwriter | Irving Berlin |
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" is aTin Pan Alley song by American composerIrving Berlin released in 1911; it is often inaccurately cited as his first global hit.[a][5] Despite its title, the song is amarch as opposed to arag and contains littlesyncopation.[6] The song is a narrative sequel to Berlin's earlier 1910 composition "Alexander and His Clarinet".[7] This earlier composition recounts the reconciliation between anAfrican-American musician named Alexander Adams and his flame Eliza Johnson as well as highlights Alexander's innovative musical style.[b][8] Berlin's friend Jack Alexander, a cornet-playing African-American bandleader, inspired the title character.[9]
Emma Carus, a famouscontralto renowned for her highlung power, introduced Berlin's song to the public in Spring 1911.[10] Carus' brassy performance of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" at theAmerican Music Hall inChicago on April 18, 1911, electrified the audience,[10] and she toured other metropolises such asDetroit andNew York City with acclaimed performances that featured the catchy tune.[10] Carus' tour showcased the song in the United States and contributed to its immense popularity.[11]
Amid the success of Carus' national tour, the comedic duo ofArthur Collins andByron G. Harlan released aphonograph recording of the song on May 23, 1911, which became the best-selling record in the United States for ten consecutive weeks.[3] Soon after, Berlin's jaunty melody "sold a million copies ofsheet music 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."[11] Although not a traditional ragtime song,[6] Berlin's composition kickstarted a ragtimejubilee—a belated celebration of the music which African-Americans had originated a decade prior in the 1890s.[12] The positive international reception of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" led to a musical and dance revival known as "the ragtime craze".[13]
Nearly two decades later, singerBessie Smith recorded a 1927 cover which became one of thehit songs of that year.[14] The song's popularity re-surged in 1934 with the release of aclose harmony cover by theBoswell Sisters,[15] and a 1938musical film of the same name starringTyrone Power andAlice Faye.[16] A variety of artists covered the song such asAl Jolson,Billy Murray,Louis Armstrong,Bing Crosby, and others.[17] The song had at least a dozen hit covers within fifty years of its release.[18]
In March 1911, theTed Snyder Company inNew York City employed the 23-year-old Irving Berlin as aTin Pan Alley songwriter.[19] One morning after arriving at work, Berlin decided to compose an instrumentalragtime number.[19] By this time, the ragtime phenomenon popularized bypianistScott Joplin and other African-American musicians had begun to wane,[20] and over a decade had passed since the syncopated genre's initial heyday in theGay Nineties.[19]
A tirelessworkaholic, Berlin composed the piece while in the noisy offices ofTed Snyder's musicpublishing firm where "five or six pianos and as many vocalists were making bedlam with songs of the day."[21] Berlin composed the lyrics of the song as a narrative sequel to his earlier 1910 composition "Alexander and His Clarinet".[7] This earlier composition recounts the reconciliation between anAfrican-American musician named Alexander Adams and his flame Eliza Johnson as well as highlights Alexander's innovative musical style.[b][8] Berlin's friend Jack Alexander, a cornet-playing African-American bandleader, inspired the title character.[9]
By the next day, Berlin completed four pages of notes for thecopyist-arranger.[22] Berlin registered the song in the name of the Ted Snyder Company as E252990 and published it on March 18, 1911.[23] Upon playing the composition for others,[24] listeners criticized the song as too lengthy ("running beyond theconventional 32 bars"),too rangy, and not "a real ragtime number".[25] In fact, the tune is amarch as opposed to a rag and barely contains a trace ofsyncopation.[26] Its sole notability consists of quotes fromSwanee River and abugle call.[18] Due to such criticisms, the tune unimpressed listeners at the Ted Snyder Company.[25]
Undaunted by the lackluster response, Berlin submitted the song toJesse L. Lasky, aBroadway theater producer planning an extravagant debut for his nightclub theater called the Follies Bergère.[25] Lasky hesitated to incorporate thepseudo-ragtime number into his show.[27] When the show opened on April 27, 1911, Lasky chose only to use its melody whistled by performerOtis Harlan.[27] Thus the song failed to find an appreciative audience.[28]
Fortunately for Berlin,vaudeville singer andbaritoneEmma Carus liked his humorous composition, and she introduced the song on April 18, 1911, at theAmerican Music Hall inChicago.[10] She next embarked on a tour ofthe Midwest in Spring 1911.[10] Consequently, music historians credit Carus for showcasing the song to the country and helping contribute to its immense popularity.[11] In gratitude, Berlin credited Carus on the cover of the sheet music.[11] The catchy song became indelibly linked with Carus in the public consciousness, although rival performers such asAl Jolson later co-opted the hit tune.[29]
Amid the success of Carus' national tour, the comedic duo ofArthur Collins andByron G. Harlan released aphonograph recording of the song on May 23, 1911, which became the best-selling record in the United States for ten consecutive weeks.[3] Five days later, Berlin performed the song himself on May 28, 1911, in a special charity performance of the firstFriars Frolic by theNew York Friars Club at theNew Amsterdam Theater.[30] A fellow composer in attendance,George M. Cohan, instantly recognized thecatchiness of the tune and told Berlin that the song would be an obvious hit.[31] Soon after, Berlin's jaunty melody "sold a million copies ofsheet music in 1911, then another million in 1912, and continued to sell for years afterwards."[11]Alexander's Ragtime Band became "the number one song from October 1911 through January 1912."[11]
"In a few days, 'Alexander's Ragtime Band' will be whistled on the streets and played in the cafés. It is the mostmeritorious addition to the list of popular songs introduced this season. The vivacious comedienne [Emma Carus] had her audience singing the choruses with her, and those who did not sing, whistled."
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.[5] American newspapers hailed Berlin's jumpy tune as the decade's musical sensation,[32] and he became acultural luminary over night.[18] An adoring international press subsequently touted him as the "King of Ragtime",[33] an inaccurate title as the song "had little to do with ragtime and everything to do with ragtime audacity, alertingEurope to hot times inthe colonies."[34] 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."[35] HistorianMark Sullivan later claimed that, with the auspicious debut of "Alexander's Ragtime Band", Berlin abruptly "lifted ragtime from the depths of sordid dives to theapotheosis of fashionable vogue."[36]
Although not a traditional ragtime song,[6] Berlin's jaunty composition kickstarted a ragtimejubilee—a belated popular celebration of the musical style which African-American composers such asScott Joplin had originated a decade earlier in the 1890s.[c] The positive international reception of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1911 led to a musical and dance revival known as "the ragtime craze".[13]
At the time, ragtime music caught "itssecond wind" and ragtime dancing spread "like wildfire."[37] One dancing couple in particular who exemplified thisfaddish sensation wereVernon and Irene Castle.[38] The charismatic, trendsetting duo frequently danced to Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and his othermodernist compositions.[26] The Castles'modern dancing paired with Berlin'smodern songs came to embody the ongoingculture clash between the waning propriety of theEdwardian era and the waxing joviality of the Ragtime revolution on the eve ofWorldWar I.[39] TheDaily Express wrote in 1913 that:
In everyLondon restaurant, park and theater, you hear [Berlin's] strains;Paris dances to it;Vienna has forsaken thewaltz;Madrid has flung away hercastanets, andVenice has forgotten herbarcarolles. Ragtime has swept like awhirlwind over the earth.[40]
Writers such asEdward Jablonski andIan Whitcomb have emphasized the irony that, in the1910s, even theupper class of theRussian Empire—areactionary nation from which Berlin'sJewish forebears had beencompelled to flee decades earlier[41]—became enamored with "the ragtime beat with an abandon bordering onmania."[42] Specifically,BritishsocialiteLady Diana Cooper described PrinceFelix Yusupov, an affluentRussian aristocrat who married the niece ofTsar Nicholas II and later murderedGrigori Rasputin, as dancing "around theballroom like a demented worm" and shouting, "More ragtime!"[41]
Hearing of such behavior, commentators diagnosed such individuals as "bitten by the ragtime bug" and behaving like "a dog withrabies."[43] They declared that "whether [the ragtime mania] is simply a passing phase of ourdecadent culture or aninfectious disease which has come to stay, likela grippe orleprosy, time alone can show."[44]
As the years passed, Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" had many recurrent manifestations as many artists covered it:Billy Murray, in 1912;[45]Bessie Smith, in 1927;[18]Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, in 1930;[46] theBoswell Sisters, in 1934;[15]Louis Armstrong, in 1937;[18]Bing Crosby andConnee Boswell, in 1938;[18]Johnny Mercer, in 1945;[18] Al Jolson, in 1947;[18]Nellie Lutcher, in 1948, andRay Charles in 1959.[18] Consequently, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" had a dozen hit covers within the half-a-century prior to 1960.[18]
Reflecting decades later upon the song's unlikely success, Berlin confessed his amazement at its immediate global acclaim and continued popularity.[47] He ascribed its unexpected success to thefarcical and silly lyrics which were "fundamentally right" and "started the heels and shoulders of all America and a good section of Europe to rocking."[47]
In 1937,20th Century Fox approached Irving Berlin to write astory treatment for an upcoming film tentatively titledAlexander's Ragtime Band.[48] Berlin agreed to write a story outline for the film which featured twenty-six of Berlin's well-known musical scores.[49]
During press interviews promoting the film prior to its premiere, Berlin decried articles by the American press which painted ragtime asjazz's forerunner.[50] 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."[50]
Released on August 5, 1938,Alexander's Ragtime Band starringTyrone Power,Alice Faye, andDon Ameche became a smash hit and grossed in excess of five million dollars.[51] Soon after the film's release, writer Marie Cooper Dieckhaus filed aplagiarism lawsuit.[52] 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.[53] Dieckhaus had submitted the unpublished manuscript in 1937 to variousHollywood studios,literary agents, and other individuals for their perusal.[52] The judge believed that, after rejecting her manuscript, Berlin nonetheless appropriated much of her work.[52] In 1946, anappellate court reversed the ruling onappeal.[54]
There are allegations that Berlin purloined themelody 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.[55] Berlin and Joplin were acquaintances in New York, and Berlin had opportunities to hear Joplin's scores prior to publication.[56] 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."[56]
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."[56] According to one account:
Joplin took some music to Irving Berlin, and Berlin kept it for some time. Joplin went back and Berlin said he couldn't use [the song]. When "Alexander's Ragtime Band" came out, Joplin said, "That's my tune."[45]
Joplin'swidow claimed that, "after Scott had finished writingTreemonisha, and while he was showing it around, hoping to get it published, [Berlin] stole the theme, and made it into a popular song. The number was quite a hit, too, but that didn't do Scott any good."[45] A relative ofJohn Stillwell Stark, Joplin's music publisher, asserted "the publication of 'Alexander's Ragtime Band' brought Joplin to tears because it was his [own] composition."[45] Joplin later died bankrupt after undertaking the financial burden of his unsuccessfulTreemonisha opera and was buried in a pauper's grave (remaining unmarked for 57 years) inQueens, New York, on April 1, 1917.[57] As writer Edward A. Berlin notes inKing of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era:
There were also rumors heard throughout Tin Pan Alley to the effect thatAlexander's Ragtime Band had actually been written by a black man, and even a quarter-century later [composer]W.C. Handy told an audience that "Irving Berlin got all his ideas and most of his music from the late Scott Joplin." Berlin was aware of the rumors and addressed the issue in a magazine interview in 1916.[58]
For the next half-century, Berlin was incensed by the allegation that a "'black boy' [sic] had written 'Alexander's Ragtime Band'."[59] 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."[60] In 1914, Berlin referenced the allegation in the lyrics of his composition "He's A Rag Picker."[59] The song features a verse in which a "black character" named Mose claims authorship of "Alexander's Ragtime Band."[59]
Although the 1911 sheet music cover drawn by artist John Frew depicts the band's musicians as eitherwhite orbiracial,[1] Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band"—and his earlier 1910 composition "Alexander and His Clarinet"—employ certainidiomatic expressions ("oh, ma honey", "honey lamb") andvernacular English ("bestest band what am") in the lyrics to indicate to the listener that the characters in the song should be understood to beAfrican-American.[61] For example, an often-omitted andrisqué second verse identifies the race of Alexander's clarinet player as an African-American:[62]
- There's a fiddle with notes that screeches
- Like a chicken—like a chicken—
- And the clarinet is a colored pet.[63]
| Release | Performer | Vocalist | Recording date | Album | Label | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1911 | Collins & Harlan | Arthur Collins &Byron G. Harlan | May 23, 1911 | The Oceana Roll/Alexander’s Ragtime Band (Single) | [64] | |
| 1927 | Bessie Smith and Her Blue Boys | Bessie Smith | March 2, 1927 | (Single) | Columbia Records | |
| 1935 | The Boswell Sisters | The Boswell Sisters | 1935 | (Single) | ||
| 1936 | Benny Goodman & His Orchestra | instrumental | October 7, 1936 | (Single) | [65] | |
| 1937 | Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra | Louis Armstrong | 1937 | (Single) | ||
| 1938 | Bing Crosby &Connie Boswell withVictor Young & His Orchestra | Bing Crosby & Connie Boswell | January 26, 1938 | (Single) | ||
| 1948 | The Andrews Sisters withVic Schoen & His Orchestra | The Andrews Sisters | May 1948 | Irving Berlin Songs | Decca | |
| 1958 | Ella Fitzgerald | Ella Fitzgerald | March 19, 1958 | Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book | Verve | |
| 1959 | Ray Charles | Ray Charles | June 23, 1959 | The Genius of Ray Charles | Atlantic | |
| 1962 | King Curtis | instrumental | February 15, 1962 | Doing the Dixie Twist | Tru-Sound | |
| 1967 | Julie London | Julie London | 1967 | With Body & Soul | Liberty | |
| 1973 | Smacka Fitzgibbon | Smacka Fitzgibbon | August 1973 | Smacka's Party Album |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
