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Saturday 12 September 2009
Tune of the Day: The Entertainer
“A Ragtime Two Step” by Scott Joplin
Probably Scott Joplin's most famous piece, this classic piano rag was written in 1902. It returned to top international prominence as part of the ragtime revival in the 1970s, when it was used as the theme music for the 1973 Oscar-winning film The Sting. Composer and pianist Marvin Hamlisch's adaptation reached #3 on the Billboard pop chart in 1974 and spent a week at #1 on the adult contemporary chart that same year.
Curiously enough, the film The Sting was set in the 1930s, a full generation after the end of ragtime's mainstream popularity.
In the United States, "The Entertainer" is also commonly played by ice cream trucks, in order to attract attention.