Everything In America Is Ragtime 1916

by James Pitt-Payne, London UK - 27 Aug 2006
2006

People here are going wild
every woman, man and child,
has some ragtime on the brain.
Every band and orchestra
playing in America
plays a syncopated strain,
it's floating in the air
you hear it everywhere.

Everything in America is ragtime
They talk in ragtime
it seems to be the fashion
their only passion is swaying to and fro,
snapping fingers so.
Acting as though they were having a jagtime.
The U.S.A. is a land of syncopation,
it seems the nation is just a million acres
of shoulder shakers,
composers, just as thick as bees,
writing raggy melodies,
they're even making Gaby Deslys sing ragtime.

Everything in America is ragtime
They talk in ragtime
it seems to be the fashion
their only passion is swaying to and fro,
snapping fingers so.
Acting as though they were having a jagtime.
The U.S.A. is a land of syncopation,
it seems the nation is just a million acres
of shoulder shakers,
composers, just as thick as bees,
writing raggy melodies,
they're even making Gaby Deslys sing ragtime.

In the subway every night
folks start swaying left and right
while they read the evening news.
When a baby starts to cry
longing for a lullaby
mother sings the Memphis Blues,
you can't drive it away,
because it's here to stay.

Everything in America is ragtime
They talk in ragtime
it seems to be the fashion
their only passion is swaying to and fro,
snapping fingers so.
Acting as though they were having a jagtime.
The U.S.A. is a land of syncopation,
it seems the nation is just a million acres
of shoulder shakers,
composers, just as thick as bees,
writing raggy melodies,
they're even making Gaby Deslys sing ragtime.

Everything in America is ragtime
They talk in ragtime
it seems to be the fashion
their only passion is swaying to and fro,
snapping fingers so.
Acting as though they were having a jagtime.
The U.S.A. is a land of syncopation,
it seems the nation is just a million acres
of shoulder shakers,
composers, just as thick as bees,
writing raggy melodies,
they're even making Gaby Deslys sing ragtime.

Soft karaoke
Words
piano 1
piano 2
piano 3
piano 4
lyric
pizz str bass
*
Everything In America Is Ragtime 1916
Words & Music by Irving Berlin
© MCMXVI by Irving Berlin Inc.  N.Y.
*
sequence & karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Sunday 27 August 2006 at 11.01pm
in association with Doug Grierson
*