Twelfth Street Rag
Encyclopedia
Euday L. Bowman
Euday Louis Bowman was an American pianist and composer of ragtime and blues who represented the style of Texas Ragtime...
in 1914. It is one of the most famous and best-selling rags of the ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
era. It has been recorded by many artists, ranging from Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
to Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
. Bowman worked as a pianist in some of the bordellos of Kansas City. The "Twelfth Street Rag" — was named after streets of "Boss" Tom Pendergast's redlight district in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
.
The recording by Pee Wee Hunt
Pee Wee Hunt
Pee Wee Hunt , born Walter Gerhardt Hunt, was a jazz trombonist, vocalist and band leader....
was the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
number-one single for 1948, selling over three million copies. It was released as Capitol Records 15015 in May 1948.
Euday Bowman, the composer, recorded and published his own recording of the song, on Bowman 11748.
Donald Peers
Donald Peers
Donald Peers was a popular Welsh singer. His best remembered rendition and signature song was "In a Shady Nook by a Babbling Brook".-Biography:...
recorded the song in London on March 26, 1949. It was released by EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
on the His Master's Voice label as catalogue number B 9763.
Its structure is: Intro A A1 Intro-2 A2
It has been best known as the theme to The Joe Franklin Show
Joe Franklin
Joe Franklin is an American radio and television personality. From New York City, Franklin is sometimes credited with hosting the first television talk show...
; the version most associated with the program was Big Tiny Little
Big Tiny Little
Dudley "Tiny" Little, Jr. was an American musician who appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1959. His primary instrument was the piano.-Biography:...
's 1959 recording from his album Honky Tonk Piano (Brunswick
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
BL (7)54049).
In the 1919 short A Day's Pleasure
A Day's Pleasure
A Day's Pleasure is Charlie Chaplin's fourth film for First National Films. It was created at the Chaplin Studio. It was a quickly made two-reeler to help fill a gap while working on his first feature The Kid. It is about a day outing with his wife and the kids and things don't go smoothly. Edna...
by Charlie Chaplin, the African-American band is heard playing a version of the popular rag while on the ship.
More recently, a ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
version has been featured as background music
Background music
Although background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...
on the TV series SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
.