Music on Mondays (3/18/03) — It’s rag time!
On this date in 1911, Irving Berlin copyrighted one of the biggest hits of the early 20th Century.
Prior to digital music downloads, there were vinyl records. They came in four flavors: the LP (long-play album), the 45 single (two songs, one on each side), the EP (extended play, which usually had four songs, two on each side), and the 78 (single or album).
Prior to vinyl records, though, music hits were determined by how much sheet music was sold. People would buy sheet music and learn the music on the piano. Then they would play the music for family and friends, who then would go out and buy the sheet music and learn it themselves.
I admit that I’m not one of those who miss vinyl records. I diligently cared for my records since I had over 5,000 of them at the end of my vinyl collecting career in 1993. Unfortunately, as much as I lovingly cared for them, they were always warping, getting scratched, even cracking or breaking! Whenever I had social events (known as parties back in those days!), I would find records the next morning that had wine, beer, margaritas, even peanut butter! on them. I can tell you that out of those four, peanut butter was the worst.
The song Irving Berlin copyrighted was “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.”
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band” sold over 1.5 million copies during the first 18 months after its release.
Berlin went on to write songs that are much more familiar than “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” most notably “White Christmas,” “God Bless America,” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
Even though Bing Crosby took “White Christmas” and made it an ongoing Christmas classic, with the fame and fortune that such a classic brings, Irving Berlin probably made more money from the copyright royalties on “White Christmas” than Bing Crosby did.
If you remember when Whitney Houston died last year, her songs received a great deal of airplay. Unfortunately, Houston’s estate made very little off of that airplay since she didn’t write her own songs.
Back in the 1950s when rock ‘n’ roll was getting started, there were singers and there were songwriters. That’s why you can look at an old Billboard music chart from the ’50s and ’60s and find multiple renditions on the chart of the same song but by different singers. Singers would buy songs from songwriters and record them, hoping to top the charts with their versions.
In the early 1960s, Paul McCartney and John Lennon of The Beatles were among the first combination singer-songwriters, recognizing that the real money was in royalties, not initial song sales.
I have always loved ragtime music, and the world finally caught on in 1973 when Paul Newman and Robert Redford starred in “The Sting.” Music was by Marvin Hamlisch (1944-2012) and featured ragtime music written decades earlier by Scott Joplin (c. 1867-1917). Here are my two favorite Scott Joplin tunes, performed by Scott Joplin on piano:
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Posted on March 18, 2013, in Music on Mondays and tagged alexander's ragtime band, irving berlin, marvin hamlisch, scott joplin, the sting movie. Bookmark the permalink. 21 Comments.
My vinyl didn’t survive well, but I have a friend who now swears by a place that distributes remastered vinyl records. Claims he can hear nuances that are missing in digital.
Nice post – I’m a great fan of ragtime too.
I think the nuances are the scratch and dirt clicks………….lol
Love that old fashioned sound… nothing sounds lile that now…
Fabulous post. Ceri
This post was a real education. And fun as well. I had no idea Scott Joplin had written those songs.
Most people think they were either “from the movie The Sting” or written by Marvin Hamlisch.
So sad. As if the composer has been forgotten in favour of the cover artist.
I love Scott Joplin too. I loved the book and movie too, “Ragtime”
cool music… i felt relaxed, just now, listening to them. thanks for sharing and letting me camp out here. have a good week…
~San
Is Jim playing the Scott Joplin songs? I love all three of those. Many times I don’t take the time to listen to the music or watch the videos on a a site, but I couldn’t resist these! So, just to be clear, how do you visit 120 sites in one day? It’s taking me about 30 minutes on each site to get through what I’ve missed, and that’s just my favorites! And I haven’t gotten through all of yours that I missed! In my early 20s I took the time to learn a very simplified version of The Entertainer, so it’s special to hear it from a great pianist!
No Jim on those. They actually are Scott Joplin himself I hope because that’s what I was led to believe while searching YouTube.
When I visit blogs, I start with the most recent post on the blog and work my way backwards until I get to where I left off last time. However, I do have to limit my time on some blogs. For example, one blogger blogs once a month or so and reblogs about 500 times. I don’t comment on reblogs, so it’s sometimes difficult to find those two original blogs.
I do use reblogs to find new blogs to connect with.
I try to leave a minimum of four likes and one comment but that’s not always possible. I refuse to become a spammer: “Hi. Nice post.” If I don’t have anything intelligent to say or add to the conversation, then I just leave a like and move on.
That’s a nice way to do it, but it still takes me more time than it does you! By at least 50 times! Wow. I may be a spammer, though. Do you think? I do start with the most recent and move backwards. I never thought about reblogging to connect to new people. I don’t notice a ton of reblogs on your site. In fact, I don’t remember any reblogs. Do you mean reblogging your own materials?
Those were great recordings. See, that is what I mean by taking time. That was several minutes to listen to all three recordings. Do you open up another blog while you are listening or something? That would make sense.
Try EyeQ and Dragon Naturally Speaking. I took the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading course back in 1974 and I’ve been using Dragon for 11 years. Those are two significant reasons why I get as much done as I do.
Very interesting. I went to both websites. I actually read at 705 WPM before the demo, and 776 after. However, it didn’t test comprehension. Not sure what that was, but I was surprised. I remember having those kinds of machines in sixth grade that sped you along. As for the Dragon, I wasn’t familiar with that either. That sounds cool. So you just talk in your posts, and let the computer type it? It takes me about 2 hours to do a normal post – even an abnormally short one.
So thanks for the hints. I’ll try them.
I had to do a post manually one time because I had a new computer and had not installed Dragon on it yet. I think it took all day, and with just four or five pictures. I got Dragon working on the new computer real fast, really really fast……..
OK then, that sounds great. I trust your advice! So I will get it!
I’ll let you know how it works out. 
Marsha
I usually open ten blogs at a time. I do that because sometimes it can take a long time to load blogs, pictures, etc. Some people use monster pictures, and when they put 50 monster pictures in a post, it can take a couple of minutes for the post to finish loading. That’s valuable time that I can use reading another blog post or two.
I don’t reblog. I have thought about it, but I really like originality. If I find a blog that is worthy of reblogging, it’s because I have an opinion, a strong one. Thus, I simply get inspired and write my own blog post about the subject. In some cases, I’ll reference the blog post that inspired me, perhaps even provide a link to it. But I don’t reblog.
I didn’t think you reblogged! I haven’t ever read anything unoriginal on your site, that I can remember. Wow, 10 blogs at a time! That in itself is a feat. This is really good information, Russel Ray. You should do a post on exactly how you do surf the blogosphere. For example. When you open 10 blogs, do you use your reader, just type in letters, and let your computer take you to your most frequent??
I sure learn a lot from you RR!! Thanks so much!
I have an Excel spreadsheet with, at the moment, 1,977 blogs that I’m following. I simply visit them in order. It takes me about three weeks right now, which I think is too long. I like to be at about 14 or 15 days. As of April 1, though, I’m thinking about forgetting about the people who never blog or those who do 400 reblogs each month. If they can’t be original, or they have nothing to say…..
In some cases, like you for example, I’ll spend more time at the blog because I’ve established much more than just a blogging relationship. Those people are highlighted in green in my spreadsheet so that I won’t forget since some people have blog names far different from their real names.
Wow, I thought when I reached 498 that was a lot! I remember when I first started blogging, and this poor, bleary-eyed fellow commented on my blog, and I answered him – of course hungry for comments, and he said something like, “I can’t I’m following 400 blogs.” I thought, whew, that’s a ton! I think I had about 10 at the time. So right now I just spend time with the ones I’ve established a relationship with. Those people I know their names, too – at least most of the time.
Thanks again for your tips. This has been really helpful. It would make a good post. If you don’t do it, I will after I work out the bugs for myself. I may do one anyway because I will make progress just as I have with photography. The fun in writing is in the progress. 
When I come across one of those people who reblog everything, I’ll spend time clicking on the reblog link to the original. That’s a major way that I find new people to interact with.