In 1902 father built a house

At the crest of the brodview

Avenue hill in new rochelle

New york and it seemed for

Some years thereafter that all the family's days would be

Warm and fair

The skies were blue and hazy

Rarely a storm Barely a chill

La la la la

The afternoons were lazy

Everyone warm Everything still

La la la la

And there was distant music

Simple and somehow sublime

Giving the nation

A new syncopation

The people called it ragtime

Father was well-off

Very well-off His considerable

Income was derived from the manufacture and sale of

Fireworks and other accoutrements of patriotism Father

Was also something of an amateur explorer

The house on the hill in new rochelle was mother's

Domain She took pleasure in making it comfortable

For the men of her family and often told herself how

Fortunate she was to be so protected and provided for

By her husband

Mother's younger brother worked at father's fireworks

Factory He was a genius at explosives But he was also

A young man in search of something to believe in His

Sisterwondered when he would find it

Grandfather had been a professor of greek and latin Now

Retired and living with his daughter and her family he

Was thoroughly irritated by everything

The days were gently tinted

Lavender pink lemon and lime

Ladies with parasols

Fellows with tennis balls

There were gazebos and

The were no negroes

And everything was ragtime

Listen to the ragtime

In harlem men and women of color forgot their

Troubles and danced and reveled to the music of

Coalhouse walker jr This was a music that was theirs

And no one else's

One young woman thought coalhouse played just for her

Her name was sarah

Ooooh

Booker t Washington was the most famous n***o

In the country He counselled friendship between the

Races and spoke of the promise of the future He had no

Patience for negroes who lived less than exemplary lives

Ladies with parasols

Fellows with tennis balls

There were no negroes

And there were no immigrants

In latvia a man dremed of a new life

For his little girl

It would be a long journey a treeible one

He would not lose her as he had her mother

His name was tateh He never spoke of his wife

The little girl was all he had now

Together they would escape

Houdini Look it's houdini

Ooh aah

Ooh aah

Harry houdini was one immigrant who made and art of

Escape He was a headliner in the top vaudeville circuits

Ich bin die mutter des grossen houdinis

He mad his mother proud But for all his achievements he

Knew he was only an illusionist He wanted to believe

There was more

Hello sonny

Warn the duke

What did you say

And there was distant music

Changing the tune changing the time

Giving the nation

A new syncopation:

La la la

Certain men make a country great

They can't help it

At the very apex of the american pyramid

That's the very tip-top

Like pharoahs reincarnate stood j p Morgan

And henry ford

All men are born equal

But the cream rises to the top

Let me at those sosn of bitches

These men are the

Demons who are sucking your very souls dry

I hate them

Someone should arrest that woman

The radical anarchist emma goldman fought against the

Ravages of american capitalism as she watched her fellow

Immigrants' hopes turn to despair on the lower east side

La la la

La la la la

Whee

But america was watching another drama

Evelyn nesbit was the most beautiful woman in america

If she wore her hair in curls

Every woman wore her hair

In curls

Her lover was the eminent architect stanford white

Designer of the pennsylvania station on 33rd street

Her husband the eccentric millionaire harry k Thaw

Was a violent man

After her husband shot her lover

Evelyn became the biggest

Attraction in vaudeville since tom thumb

La la la la la

Bang

La la la

Bang

La

Bang

And although the newspapers called the shooting the

Crime of the century goldman knew it was only 1906

And there were ninety-four years to go

Whee

And there was music playing

Catching a nation in it's prime

Beggar and millionaire

Everyone everywhere

Moving to the ragtime

And there was distant music

Skipping a beat singing a dream

La la la la

A strange insistent music

Putting out heat

Picking up steam

La la la la

The sound of distant thunder

Suddenly starting to climb

It was the music

Of something beginning

An era exploding

A century spinning

In riches and rags

And in rhythm and rhyme

The people called it Ragtime

Ragtime

Ragtime

Ragitme