The Skeleton Rag 1911

James Pitt-Payne, London UK - 19 Oct 2004

See that moon, hear that tune,
moaning, groaning, Oh! So scary,
through the lonely cemetery,
shapes of white, fill the night,
swinging, swaying, playing, prancing,
ghostly goblins gaily dancing,
skip and hop, never stop,
from this place where they've been hiding,
slipping, sliding, they come gliding,
short and tall, see them all!
shake like gelatine,
at the Skeleton Rag.

Oh, that Skeleton Rag!
That goblin drag!
It sounds so weepy, creepy, solemn, serious;
see them wiggle and wag,
singing: "We're dead ones come to life,
Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
Oh, that Skeleton Rag,
they swell it and brag,
about their epitaphs with laughs delirious,
At some ghastly gag,
in the moany, groany, bony Skeleton Rag.

Oh, that Skeleton Rag!
That goblin drag!
It sounds so weepy, creepy, solemn, serious;
see them wiggle and wag,
singing: "We're dead ones come to life,
Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
Oh, that Skeleton Rag,
they swell it and brag,
about their epitaphs with laughs delirious,
At some ghastly gag,
in the moany, groany, bony Skeleton Rag.

Look around, hear that sound,
don't it make you shake and shiver,
don't it make you quake and quiver?
Can't you hear, music queer?
See that melancholy fellow
playing on his ghostly 'cello!
As he croons, ragtime tunes,
from his long and bony fingers,
comes a melody that lingers
on the air, so beware.
you'll be dying to start in trying that rag.

Oh, that Skeleton Rag!
That goblin drag!
It sounds so weepy, creepy, solemn, serious;
see them wiggle and wag,
singing: "We're dead ones come to life,
Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
Oh, that Skeleton Rag,
they swell it and brag,
about their epitaphs with laughs delirious,
At some ghastly gag,
in the moany, groany, bony Skeleton Rag.

Oh, that Skeleton Rag!
That goblin drag!
It sounds so weepy, creepy, solemn, serious;
see them wiggle and wag,
singing: "We're dead ones come to life,
Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
Oh, that Skeleton Rag,
they swell it and brag,
about their epitaphs with laughs delirious,
At some ghastly gag,
in the moany, groany, bony Skeleton Rag.

Soft karaoke
Words
piano 1
piano 2
piano 3
piano 4
lyric
pizz str bass
*
The Skeleton Rag 1911
Music by Percy Wenrich
Lyrics by Edward Madden
© MCMXI by Jerome H. Remick & Co.
*
sequence and karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Tuesday 19 October 2004 at 10.36
in association with Doug Grierson
*