Ragtime Annie

     Many of the songs played at the Old Time Music Jam are based on Scotch Irish Fiddle Tunes.  Ragtime Annie, however, may have a quite different origin.

     This song was recorded several times in the 1920's by such luminaries as Eck Robertson from Texas, Dudley Vance from Tennessee and Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers (with Posey Rorer on fiddle) in the early 1920s. In some cases the song was known as Ragtime Annie Lee, or the Ragged Ann Rag. 

      Del Wood, incidentally, had a piano version from circa 1951 which he called Ragtime Melody (Del, by the way, was an early  influence on one Jerry Lee Lewis, who grew up to be a pretty fair piano player himself).   Oddly there seem to be no lyrics to this song.  
        It's another one of those songs that sounds like it might have been used on an early Warner Brothers cartoon, but I haven't been able to identify any cartoon that might have used it.  

     From the title, we can guess that the song may have been composed in the ragtime era of the 1890's to the early 1900's.  If so, it is probably an indigenous American composition, since ragtime was more or less invented in America as a fusion of African rhythms and European melodies, as a precursor to jazz and rock and roll. Many of the songs at the Brew Pub actually have elements of ragtime and jazz. 

       As an American song, it would be less unusual for it to have been composed as a purely instrumental tune.  Almost all Scotch-Irish fiddle songs have lyrics. 

        The version below is from one of our jams from 2010.  Sadly, my cheapie video camera has a directional microphone which causes the percussion to fade in and out.  We don't always have percussion at the Brew Pub, but this particular fellow was pretty good.  He used some unorthodox instruments (i.e., a PVC tube from the hardware store) and was really a very creative fellow.  Unfortunately my video doesn't do it justice.  

     Another video is by emeritus fiddler Elmer Rich, who at 91 years young might actually know who composed Ragtime Annie (I'll ask him next time I see him).  Elmer comes from a musical family, and has been actively performing since the early 1930's. 

      The chord structure is taken from the Pegram Jam Book, 

http://www.pegramjam.com/documents/PegramJamChordCharts_v46.pdf

A PART 

D   D   D   A  

A   A    A   D :||

B PART 

D   D   D   G 

A    A   A   D

D   D   D   G 

G   D   A   D

C PART 

G   C   D   G :||

     In Morgantown, we sometimes sing to the C Part, "Ragtime Annie, Ragtime Annie, Ragtime Annie, Ragtime Annie."  Not terribly original, I'll grant you, but that's what we do. 

     If anyone else knows anything about this wonderful song, please post or send me an emai. 

The usual cast of suspects at the Brew Pub, circa 2010. 

    

Elmer Rich playing at Prickett's Fort.