Rag Song

Rag Song The format of the popular song, whether tearjerker or Coon Song, was the same throughout its first decade: there was a verse (that nobody knew) and a chorus (that everybody knew). While the verse might be any length, the chorus was usually either sixteen or thirty-two measures long. During the Ragtime age, the tearjerker gave way to the pleasant love song (“On a Sunday Afternoon,” “In the Good Old Summertime,” “ Meet Me in St. Louis , Louis,” “ Wait Till the Sun Shines , Nellie,” “By…