The Entertainer (rag)

The Entertainer
by Scott Joplin
First edition cover of "The Entertainer"
Form	Ragtime, two step
Published	1902; 122 years ago (1902)
Publisher	John Stark & Son
Duration	Typically 3:53

"The Entertainer" is a 1902 classic piano rag written by Scott Joplin.^[1]

It was sold first as sheet music by John Stark & Son of St. Louis, Missouri,^[2] and in the 1910s as piano rolls that would play on player pianos.^[1] The first recording was by blues and ragtime musicians the Blue Boys in 1928, played on mandolin and guitar.^[1]

As one of the classics of ragtime, it returned to 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 No. 3 on the Billboard pop chart and spent a week at No. 1 on the easy listening chart in 1974.^[3] The Sting was set in the 1930s, a full generation after the end of ragtime's mainstream popularity, thus giving the inaccurate impression that ragtime music was popular at that time.

The Recording Industry Association of America ranked it at No. 10 on its "Songs of the Century" list.^[1]