Posted On: Wednesday - January 1st 2020 11:18PM MST
In Topics: Music History
No, I mean even the 100th year later retrospection on this great musical genre is now over. I had no idea till just now, but the ragtime period was from roughly the very beginning of the last century through 1919 or so. Well, that just sucks for Peak Stupidity, as we really like to keep up with things, even if it is an even century later.
The most famous of all ragtime songs is The Entertainer, written by Scott Joplin. Ragtime is piano music, played by one pianist, so it's not like one musician's playing will be a whole lot different than another, contrary to classical music and, of course, The Dead. This recording could not be by Scott Joplin himself, as wiki says the 1st recording of the song was in 1928 (past the ragtime era) and Mr. Joplin died in 1917.
This song is especially famous due to its being pretty much the theme music for the 1973 Paul Newman/Robert Redford movie The Sting*.
For those with different tastes, let me just paste in a now-obscure Billy Joel song of the same title. This is from back when he really was "the piano man", off his 1974 album Streetlife Serenade. It's got really good lyrics too, if you've been into the music scene, back when there was such a thing.
* One of those ones you've got to watch 3 times to see "oh, that's how they got away with it!", at least for me.
Comments:
Moderator
Thursday - January 2nd 2020 9:49PM MST
PS: Yeah Rex, he wrote and played a lot of great stuff in the early/mid 1970s that almost nobody has heard of. Two of my favorites are "New York State of Mind" (takes a while for the tune to sink in well) and "Last of the Big Time Spenders". The latter is from the same album as "The Entertainer".
Rex Little
Thursday - January 2nd 2020 5:34PM MST
PS
The Entertainer! My favorite Billy Joel song, but one I never hear on the radio. Thanks for that.
The Entertainer! My favorite Billy Joel song, but one I never hear on the radio. Thanks for that.