Ben Harney

Biography

Benjamin Robertson Harney (March 6, 1871 – March 2, 1938) was an American songwriter, entertainer, and father of ragtime music. His 1895 composition "You've Been a Good Old Wagon but You Done Broke Down" is known as the very first ragtime composition to be published and the first ragtime hit to reach the mainstream. For a while, it was thought the first Ragtime composition published was La Pas Ma La written by Ernest Hogan in 1895. But, the copyright for "You've Been a Good Old Wagon but You Done Broke Down" was registered in January 1895 (Greenup Music Co.)source, a few months prior to La Pas Ma La (September 1895, J. R. Bell)source, proving (contrary to popular belief), it was in fact the first of the two. During the early years of Harney's career, he promoted himself as being the inventor of ragtime. Although ragtime is now primarily more associated with figures such as Joseph Lamb (composer) and Scott Joplin, in 1924 The New York Times wrote that Ben Harney "Probably did more to popularize ragtime than any other person." Time magazine called him "Ragtime's Father" in 1938.

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