Entertainer Song (1902)

The Entertainer Song (1902)

Lyrics:

Now the curtain is going up
The Entertainer is taking a bow
Does his dance step and sings his song
Even gets all the audience to sing along
Yes, he knows just what he must do
Knows how to bring down the house
When he's through
Snappy patter and jokes
He knows what pleases the folks
The Entertainer, the star of the show

Interlude:
It was in Vaudeville and he was on the bill
With all the singers, dancers, acrobats and clowns
There was a dancing bear, even a dog act there
And a comedian who never let 'em down
But when he came on to do his fav'rite song
He really wowed 'em in the cities and the towns
They came from near and far to see the Vaudeville star
The entertainer

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words by John Brimhall
music by Scott Joplin
arranged by John Brimhall
published by California Music Press Inc., New York

sheet music (for duet) found in a second-hand store
midi notes sequenced by Fred Feild
piano according to the sheet music
sung by sheet music singer, Fred Feild

Milton Berle sang this with the muppets on Sesame Street. The music is from 1902. The lyrics were created during the ragtime revival of the 1970s.

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Get the sheet music and MIDI at:

[oakleysierney]

Here because I played this from an old song book as a kid, and I was trying to remember the lyrics. I'm sure the lyrics you have there vary somewhat from what was in the book I had but still great to find this and enjoyed how you put it all into a video with the sheet music and your singing!

[StevenTorrey]

John Brimhall wrote the words much later, sometime in 1974 to what was a simpler rendition; they were not with the original 1902 performance.

[CANeely]

there is a song dating around 1902 called "oh you tommy" music adapted from Scott joplins entertainer! I don't believe anybody ever knows about this version!

[langstonmcguire]

Learned this in music class as a kid
I was born almost exactly 100 years after this and I'm from joplin lol
Also my names Langston and the poet Langston Hughes was born in joplin in 1902, thats like 100 years before me hahaha small world (:

[scottandrewhutchins]

My mom had this book--The Nosyalgia Years--and I learned these lyrics. They were added so much later that few people know or care about them. I found a lyrics site claiming that Ray Coniff performed them, but his version has a female chorus singing completely different lyrics.

[oliverbrownlow]

SheetMusicNow reports the following about John Brimhall (1928-2003): "John Brimhall was a musical arranger and author of books on piano instruction, music composition, theory, and performance. Brimhall is best known for his simplified arrangements of classical and American popular music for piano students and is thought to be the most published arranger of printed music in history, having sold over 75 million copies of the more than 500 books and sheet music titles he authored/complied."

[ThinkingSkptically]

Whoa! I know this melody! (I'm not even American or a native English speaker!) Weirdly, I've known this melody since childhood but, sadly, hardly knew much about it at all: its history, its creator, etc. So... thanks, really! :-)

[Kaiii_yza]

I never knew it actually has lyrics. I'm shocked seeing it has on Spotify, so I went here.

[grimTales]

I heard some other lyrics to the ending (Milton Berle's version)

Now the curtain is going down
On the Entertainer, the artist, the pro
He was put on this Earth
To give us laughter and mirth
The Entertainer, the star of the show

[leah]

Who’s the best singer at school? We’re doing this song to it is really good.

[emsguybob]

Pointer sisters on Carole Burnett sang completely different lyrics.(I audio taped it as a kid)

[secularv]

People say that Ragtime was like jazz music but some Ragtime songs I've heard it sounded like classical.

[MrAlex-vmgf]

In the description of the song it says that the song is from 1974, you should fix that.