[Ads-l] Origins of the Term "Ragtime"

[Shapiro, Fred]

I am not a musicologist -- in fact, I think that I have less understanding of music than the average person.  But I do have knowledge of researching word-histories.  One interesting word-history is that of "ragtime."

Until recently, the term "ragtime" was thought to have been originated by songwriter Ben Harney, with the first use occurring in August 1896.  The Oxford English Dictionary still has Harney as its earliest citation for "ragtime."  In 2018, however, I discovered that the actress-singer May Irwin was quoted using "rag time," in the San Francisco Examiner, January 5, 1896.  I also found several other newspaper citations from before Harney came on the scene.

"Ragtime" had a prehistory.  I have been able to collect a number of examples of usage of the word "rag" that suggest the evolution of the musical genre before the full name was coined.  I list these examples below:

A. W. Norris, the tinker, who has a shop near the Fourth street bridge, probably plays for more dances than any other man on earth. ... Norris plays for the kind of dances known as "rags."  He can play a waltz on the fiddle, but the only kind of music in demand is "rag" music. ... Norris knows only one "rag" tune, but this is sufficient for all occasions.
Atchison (Kansas) Daily Globe, December 1, 1891, page 4, column 6

The Lime Kiln Club, colored suburban, at a mile and fifty yards, in which all the riders were men of color, caused a little merriment before the start. ... Then the band played a "rag": "There's a new coon in town."  This melody tickled Luke Flowers, Wild Robin's pilot, nearly to death, and during his efforts to suppress his mirth, and to keep his seat in the saddle, he would say, "Dat rag reminds me ob old times, boys."
Call (San Francisco), May 14, 1893, page 7, column 3

Atchison society is happy because the only man who could play "rag" music has moved back to town after an absence of several months.
St. Joseph (Missouri) Daily News  November 30, 1893, page 4, column 3

Passing along Sixteenth street near Franklin avenue last night I heard an old colored woman, who was sitting on the sidewalk, say in a commanding tone: "Sallie, you better quit dat playin' dem 'rags' on dat pianer!"  The lively dance-time was abruptly ended ... As all this happened within two minutes I am puzzled to account for her disapproval of "dem rag tunes."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 14, 1894, page 4, column 5

Kansas City girls can't play anything on pianos except "rags," and the worst kind of "rags" at that.  "The Bully" and "Forty Drops" are their favorites.
Leavenworth (Kansas) Herald, December 8, 1894, page 3, column 2

If the present "rag" craze does not die out pretty soon, every young man in the city will be able to play some kind of a "rag" and then call himself a piano player.
Leavenworth (Kansas) Herald, April 13, 1895, page 3, column 3

The enthusiasm over the rendition of this wonderful symphony, and other selections on the Thomas program, was quite as intense as that which followed the performance of the "rag" music Monday night.
Courier (Lincoln, Nebraska), April 20, 1895, page 8, column 2

These snippets may pose more questions than they answer, but some implications stand out.  For the first time we have concrete evidence that ragtime -- both the word and, more importantly, the musical phenomenon the word describes — had certain characteristics prior to the watershed year of 1896.  The genesis of ragtime seems to have been centered in the African American communities of Kansas (particularly Atchison and Leavenworth) and neighboring states.  San Franciso also played a role, which was to become important in 1896.

We see that, before the January 1896 naming of "rag time" that focused on the ragged rhythm, the word "rag" was used for a recognized type of music that was "in demand" as early as 1891 and a "craze" by 1895.  Rag music was played by individual musicians and by bands and in concerts.  Instruments included fiddles and pianos.

A later article, appearing in the New York Herald, April 25, 1899, page 5, column 4, pointed to a perhaps even earlier era and a different part of the country as possible sources of the origin of "rag time":  "In the South, colored bands are usually volunteer affairs. ... An ununiform band in the South is, very often, a rag band and the music of a rag band is called rag music, or 'rag time' music."  This comment helps to link the pre-1896 language with the post-1896 phraseology.

The Oxford English Dictionary has a sub-entry for "rag," sense 2.a., "A musical composition written in ragtime; a ragtime tune."  Their oldest citation for that sense is dated 1894, so my findings above are antedatings of the historical record.

Fred Shapiro









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