That International Rag - Composition

Composition

Wikisource has full lyrics and sheet music: That International Rag

Berlin stayed up the night before his opening performance to create a new song. He was incapable of composing alone because he was primarily a lyricist who created melodies, so he worked with a musical secretary Cliff Hess, who transcribed and arranged the piece. As Berlin readily confessed, "I don't know anything about harmony; but I can make tunes".

They made little progress until around four in the morning. When their work began to disturb neighboring guests at the Savoy Hotel, Berlin answered complaints by filling the piano with bathroom towels in order to muffle the sound. He completed the chorus and began writing the second verse around sunrise.

London dropped its dignity

So has France and Germany

All hands are dancing to a raggedy melody

Full of originality

"That International Rag" was completed just in time for its first performance. Berlin later described his method of composition in the following words: "I sweat blood... Absolutely. I sweat blood between 3 and 6 many mornings, and when the drops that fall off my forehead hit the paper they're notes."

Despite the song's title, critics doubt whether the work is actually ragtime. David Blanke explains the distinction between Tin Pan Alley rag and classic rag in the following manner:

The most likely reason for the success of Tin Pan Alley was that it drew upon the well-developed and mature vernacular styles that existed in the United States. The reliance upon ragtime piano pieces is a good case in point. Berlin's Alexander's Ragtime Band and later The International Rag (1913) were ragtime songs but not ragtime music. The difference was not too subtle; ragtime music was formally structured, syncopated and used conventional European harmonies. By contrast, ragtime songs were much looser, intending to give feeling to the music without being tied to its arrangement. —David Blanke, The 1910s

As critic Gilbert Chase quips, Berlin's Hippodrome billing as "King of Ragtime" during this tour was "not a total misnomer if we add 'white, commercial, synthetic'." A kinder Gary Giddins concludes "it wasn't ragtime, but it was authentic Americana and it did the trick."