Instrumentally Yours: The Entertainer

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WOW WOW WOW, what a World Series! It had everything but a rain delay (thankfully)…even a benches-clearing “thing.” (Most people refer to “bench-clearing brawls” in baseball as the benches clear and everyone meets on the diamond with nasty looks on their faces…there aren’t a lot of actual fights in baseball.) Congratulations to the L.A. Dodgers for winning, and to the Toronto Blue Jays for a memorable Fall Classic. We now return you to standard time with an instrumental. The Entertainer - Marvin Hamlisch Last year I did a countdown of Texas musicians, and I included in the list the great Scott Joplin. Joplin was a well-known composer; however, he died (in 1917) before records became a big thing. As a result, the scant recordings of him that exist are from piano rolls. Long forgotten, to the point where his grave went unmarked for decades, Joplin’s music roared back in a big way in 1973, courtesy of Marvin Hamlisch. In doing the music for the Redford/Newman film The Sting, Hamlisch brought the music of Scott Joplin to the world once again…and in a big way. He won an Oscar and a Grammy for his work on the soundtrack (the Grammy awarded to this song). In a funny twist, he won a couple of other Oscars in 1973….for a different movie (The Way We Were). The Hamlisch version made the Billboard top three and gave the world Joplin’s music again. After the success of this song, Joplin’s grave received a headstone. And we were all enriched with the timeless music of a pre-recording great. The Entertainer Written by Scott Joplin Recorded by Marvin Hamlisch From The Sting (soundtrack), 1973 Originally written in 1902!