"That International Rag" is a song composed by Irving Berlin in 1913. Berlin wrote the song the night before its debut, when he needed a new opening number for his act while on tour in England.
Days before the song's composition, Berlin held a press conference that backfired and led the public to question his musical talent. He wanted to impress his audience with a new song, so he stayed up overnight to compose the number and completed it just before his matinee in London. The performance was well received; it did well on vaudeville and in early sound recordings. The song later appeared in Hollywood films.
Read more about That International Rag: Background, Composition, Reception
Famous quotes containing the word rag:
“I found my brother’s body at the bottom there, where they had thrown it away on the rocks, by the river. Like an old, dirty rag nobody wants. He was dead. And I felt I had killed him. I turned back to give myself up.... Because if a man’s life can be lived so long and come out this way, like rubbish, then something was horrible, and had to be ended one way or another. And I decided to help.”
—Abraham Polonsky (b. 1910)