That Mysterious Rag is a song by Irving Berlin (1888-1989) and Ted Snyder (1881-1965), written in 1911. It was one of the earliest Berlin songs to become a commercial success. It served to revitalize ballroom dances previously labelled as foxtrot or two-step.
Along with Alexander’s Ragtime Band, also written by Berlin, this song revolutionized American popular music by adopting elements of black ragtime music.
Until the publication of this song, ragtime had mostly been an African-American musical genre, and the occasionally published rag had lyrics and cover art that indicated its ethnicity.
With That Mysterious Rag, ragtime music first sees cover art of a fashionably dressed white couple. In addition there are other elements of a generic nature that lack distinctive ethnic markers.
The music avoids characteristic ethnic overtones. There is no trace of syncopation beyond a single 3+3+2 pattern in the chorus, and no minor tonality that sounds like a blues theme. Furthermore, lyrics don’t reflect black jargon and also don’t contain references to life in the South.
In this way, many of Berlin’s early ragtime compositions differed significantly from the classic piano rags by Scott Joplin and other African-American composers. His work targeted a different audience who used to be patrons of the legitimate theatre.
Performing with a singer? Complete lyrics are available here:
The sound clip is computer generated using sampled sounds (AI). Transcriptions and descriptions are not AI generated.
That Mysterious Rag is a song by Irving Berlin (1888-1989) and Ted Snyder (1881-1965), written in 1911. It was one of the earliest Berlin songs to become a commercial success. It served to revitalize ballroom dances previously labelled as foxtrot or two-step.
Performing with a singer? Complete lyrics are available here: 
