"Alexander's Ragtime Band" is the name of a song by Irving Berlin. It was his first major hit, in 1911. There is some evidence, although inconclusive, that Berlin borrowed the melody from a draft of "A Real Slow Drag" by Scott Joplin that had been submitted to a publisher.
Famous quotes containing the words ragtime and/or band:
“Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, Boom,”
A roaring, epic, ragtime tune
From the mouth of the Congo
To the Mountains of the Moon.”
—Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931)
“Nothing makes a man feel older than to hear a band coming up the street and not to have the impulse to rush downstairs and out on to the sidewalk.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)