"The International Rag," ragtime Irving Berlin 1913 song

Ragtime popular song of 1913 originally composed and performed by Irving Berlin! If you like Berlin's ragtime songs, you may also enjoy these performances I've given:
• "If You Don't Want My ...
• "Everybody's Doin' It ...
#irvingberlin #1910smusic #broadway #ragtime #jazzage #musicaltheatre #musical
Berlin had a performance engagement at the London Hippodrome in the 1913 revue "Hello, Ragtime." He needed a new, catchy song, so he reports that he wrote "The International Rag" in his hotel room the day before the show opened. He performed it the following night to great success, and the song proved to be a popular hit (the Londoners probably appreciated being identified as ragtime fans!) both in England and the United States. The song was later interpolated into the Broadway musical All Aboard (1913) sometime after its opening, and it was also a popular hit for vaudeville performers, including Sophie Tucker and Belle Baker. It also became a top-selling recording for including Arthur Collins and Byron C. Harlan, the Victor Military Band, and Prince's Orchestra. Bill Murray, a very popular singer of the day, also recorded it. We can see that the song--and ragtime itself--had widespread appeal across genre lines!
The song took on a new life in the 1953 film musical Call Me Madam, with a score by Irving Berlin and starring Broadway belter Ethel Merman, reprising her Broadway role as a Washington party hostess appointed ambassador to a tiny European country (so the theme was American brassy modernity vs. European tradition). At a grand reception hosted by the royal family, Merman asks the military band leader if they have anything "hot" they can play, and he pulls out the sheet music to "The International Rag." Merman reads the publication date of 1913 and gamely concludes, "Well, that's fairly up-to-date. Let's give it a whirl!" Merman proceeds to belt it to the heavens, accompanied by a very brassy modern orchestration, much to the delight of the European audience. Berlin's career lasted so long that he was able to see his old songs become nostalgic classics, and he was canny enough to find a way to slot "The International Rag" into his new film, 40 years after it originally appeared. He had to write some updated lyrics; though--the line about Russian Czars had to go, and a new chorus asserted that "someday even commies" would dance to "The International Rag."
Here's the original 1913 lyric I'm singing:
What did you do, America?
They're after you, America.
You got excited and you started something,
Nations jumping all around;
You've got a lot to answer for,
They lay the blame right at your door,
The world is ragtime crazy from shore to shore.
London dropped its dignity,
So has France and Germany,
All hands are dancing to a raggedy melody
Full of originality.
The folks who live in sunny Spain
Dance to a strain
That they call the Spanish Tango;
Dukes and Lords and Russian czars,
Men who own their motor cars,
Throw up their shoulders to that raggedy melody
Full of originality.
Italian opera singers have learned to snap their fingers
The world goes 'round to the sound of the International Rag.
In every land, America,
Most every band, America,
Has started everybody dancing daily,
Prancing gaily all around;
There's syncopation in the air,
They've got the fever everywhere,
Each happy, snappy chappy cries "It's a bear."

[@thomasayresol]

What a charming song! I'd never heard this one before. Great performance!

[@sheetmusiclady2924]

Thanks, Thomas! I don't think it's performed very often, but I was fortunate to hear it several years ago on a cabaret album called "Paris in the Jazz Age." That was my introduction to the song, even before I saw it in the film "Call Me Madam" (which I also really enjoy; I love hearing Merman belt it out!).

[@stevenbogart169]

Very catchy tune -- thanks! Also, thanks for taking the time to make correct captions.

[@sheetmusiclady2924]

Thanks, Steven! It's good to know the captions are being used! I recently figured out a better way to add captions, so I'll try to keep adding them in the future.

[@johnc.mitchelljr.2716]

Here you are again ✨ there could be some double entendres in those first few lines 😂 Thank you for your sharing your talents

[@sheetmusiclady2924]

You're welcome, John! I'm glad you liked it!