Further Antedating of "Ragtime"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 1/26/07, Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> A few months ago I posted an antedating of the word "ragtime," dated Aug.
> 16, 1896.  Here is slightly earlier evidence, found in John Edward Hasse,
> _Ragtime: Its History, Composers and Music_ (1985), p. 7:
>
> "On August 3, [1896] Ernest Hogan's song _All Coons Look Alike to Me_,
> with an optional chorus labeled 'Negro "Rag" Accompaniment,' was
> copyrighted.  Two days later a copyright was filed for Witmark's edition
> of Ben Harney's song _You've Been a Good Old Wagon But You've Done Broke
> Down_.  The cover claimed that Harney was the 'Original Introducer to the
> Stage of the Now Popular "Rag Time" in Ethiopian Song.'"

I'm not sure if Hasse is correct here. According to Edward A. Berlin's
authoritative _Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History_ (1980),
Harney's song with "rag time" on the cover ("You've Been a Good Old
Wagon...") was registered on Oct. 5, not Aug. 5.

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http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0595261582&id=Cxv61Emh6l8C
(p. 27) Discusses "rag(time)" notations on sheet music for "All Coons
Look Alike to Me", "My Coal Black Lady" and "You've Been a Good Old
Wagon...".
(p. 31) fn23: "The copyright registrations for these songs are dated,
respectively, 3 August 1896, 23 November 1896, and 5 October 1896.
_You've Been a Good Old Wagon_ had a prior publication, in 1895, by a
different publisher (Louisville, Ky.: Greenup Music), without the
ragtime banner."
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--Ben Zimmer

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