"The International Rag" sung by Billy Murray also called "That International Rag" Irving Berlin song

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The record company uses "The International Rag" as the song title.

Sheet music uses "That International Rag" as the song's title.

What did you do, America?
They’re after you, America!
You got excited and you started something,
Nations jumping all around.
You’ve got a lot to answer for!
They lay the blame right at your door;
The world is ragtime crazy from shore to shore.

London dropped its dignity;
So has France and Germany.
All hands are dancing to a raggedy melody
Full of originality.
The folks who live in sunny Spain dance to a strain
that they call the Spanish Tango.

Dukes and Lords and Russian Czars,
Men who own their motor cars
Throw up their shoulders to that raggedy melody
Full of originality.
Italian opera singers
have learned to snap their fingers;
The world goes ’round to the sound
Of the International Rag.

In ev’ry land, America,
Most ev’ry band, America,
Has started ev’rybody dancing daily,
Prancing daily all around.
There’s syncopation in the air;
They’ve got the fever ev’rywhere.
Each happy, snappy chappy cries “It’s a bear!”

Billy Murray was born on May 25, 1877. He died on August 17, 1954.

This tenor was arguably the most popular recording artist of the acoustic era, sales of his records probably exceeding those of any other artist.

Only a few other singers, such as Henry Burr and Harry Macdonough, may have cut more titles.

Murray often worked as a solo artist but was equally comfortable in duets, trios, quartets, and quintets.

Famous as a singer of comic songs, he also recorded love songs, sentimental ballads, patriotic numbers, hits from Broadway musicals, vaudeville skits, and refrains for dance band numbers. His ability to adapt to changing musical trends resulted in heavy session work from 1903 until the advent of electric recording.

Though his popularity was in decline from the mid-1920s onwards, he recorded steadily until the onset of the Great Depression, even returning to studios during World War II.

William Thomas Murray "squalled for the first time in 1877" in Philadelphia, according to an article attributed to Murray and titled "My Twin--The Phonograph" in the January 1917 issue of Edison Phonograph Monthly, the only account close to an autobiographical sketch (it was probably written for him after he was interviewed by the company's advertising department). He points out that he was born in the year Edison invented the phonograph, adding, "I didn't do very much for ten years after that; but neither did the phonograph...I can understand just why Mr. Edison did not make any attempt to improve or market the phonograph he invented in 1877 until 1887...I was not ready to sing for it, that's all."

His parents, Patrick Murray (born in 1849) and Julia Kelleher Murray, appear to have emigrated from County Kerry, Ireland, when young. The family moved from the East to Denver, Colorado. To reflect his Colorado upbringing, Victor catalogs nicknamed him "The Denver Nightingale."

Printed in 1912 was a record slip for Edison Blue Amberol 1602, featuring "When I Get You Alone Tonight," which gives some biographical information. It states, "Billy Murray...ran away from his home in Denver when but thirteen years old, and after working as a newsboy and jockey in San Francisco, returned to Denver and got a job as property man in a local theatre. He became friendly with the night watchman of the theatre, and together they originated a singing and dancing act, which they practiced in secret in a nearby barn, until finally they were able to try it on the stage."

An Edison advertising writer undoubtedly wrote this after interviewing Murray. The Edison company and Murray himself may have been more interested in providing a colorful account for record buyers than an accurate one. That he was in San Francisco in the early 1890s is doubtful. Jim Walsh wrote on page 7 of Antique Phonograph Monthly (Volume V, Number 9), "According to what Billy told me, he ran away from home when he was 13, but not to San Francisco; he actually went to a racetrack near Denver where he worked as a jockey. After a few weeks his mother found him and brought him home."

When he was around 16, his parents allowed him to join Harry Leavitt's High Rollers Troupe as an actor in 1893, reports Jim Walsh in the April 1942 issue of Hobbies. Harry Leavitt was a touring impresario.


"The International Rag" sung by Billy Murray also called "That International Rag" Irving Berlin song