Puttin' On The Ritz 1930 Version with original lyrics (not PC)

[@joybreeden366]

Thanks for sharing the song background...the complete original Lyrics and tempo and style... good to know...

[@AeolianHall1]

Thanks for the comment. Look up Leo Reisman's "Puttin' On The Ritz" which is on KZbin. It is a really special arrangement, and my favorite.

[@reesemassey9147]

Freaking fantastic! It puts a bounce in your step😋

[@Trillobyte]

real treasure of an upload, thanks a many!

[@AeolianHall1]

The movie is "Idiot's Delight" and the link to it is on my notes for this song. Thanks so much for the comment.

[@armallya]

Absolutely delightful! Nothing like hearing the real piano version and not PC as you said!

[@jamespfitz]

Not PC? So true, accurate and worthwhile. Thank you.

[@andersliljevall2946]

In an old villa outside Stockholm stood a Steck pianola and though the open windows one could hear this roll being played all summer

[@Sammeep02]

Is it okay that as a 80's enthusiast I was tempted to listen to the Taco version 😂

[@yankleber]

Taco version is the best one!

[@danielgaskell5490]

The lowest octave of the piano is at least 60cents flat....the upper octaves moreso....this is a neat arrangement.....Only the middle eight notes are basically in tune....If you have this piano tuned you will be amazed how good it can sound.....Then repost this please....Thanks....

[@travisdurrans8866]

I'm pretty sure the out-of-tune rag-timey sound is what they want

[@ChuckTeStA97]

A player piano isn't supposed to be in tune.

[@PiotrBarcz]

@@travisdurrans8866 Nope, Randolph Herr who owned this piano and a couple others said it himself that he was quite tone deaf and he used an old strobe tuner. A lot of these videos show the piano when it was not tuned for seemingly months on end.

[@PiotrBarcz]

@@ChuckTeStA97 I hate it when people say this, any piano will sound better in tune. Not to mention pianos that are kept out of tune will suffer significant string damage.

[@edwardpate6128]

Stuff like this inspired early tabulating machines and in turn computers.

[@leemclaury6251]

Irving Berlin wrote a good song . Classics then and still now. A great American composer .

[@katherineklevenow1808]

He

[@leemclaury6251]

Thanks corrected .

[@PianolaDanOz]

Thats a great arrangment and more subdue then the latter prepped up version A+++

[@dirtydick9]

EXTRAORDINARY!!! Thanks a lot!!

[@AeolianHall1]

Hello, and thanks for the comment. Terms such as "High Brown" have fortunately gone out of style

[@clintonearlwalker]

Have you seen the well-to-do up on Lenox Avenue On that famous thoroughfare with their noses in the air High hats and colored collars, white spats and fifteen dollars Spending every dime for a wonderful time If you're blue and you don't know where to go to Why don't you go where Harlem sits Puttin' on the ritz Spangled gowns upon a bevy of high browns From down the levee, all misfits Puttin' on That's where each and every lulubelle goes Ev'ry Thursday evening with her swell beaus Rubbing elbows

[@ClarasBeau]

OK, great... Now I want a player piano.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

I hope you can get one!

[@marcgoodman4228]

They are out there, but unless recently restored, will cost a small fortune to do so,, if you can find someone to do it. Then, it will be a joy for years.!

[@PiotrBarcz]

You shouldn't have too much a problem finding on in decent shape for a couple thousand bucks. Also, this wasn't a player piano playing this roll, it was a push up piano player.

[@USMC_BABE38]

Now I want one!!

[@richardgreiner9264]

Love it!

[@richardturner5045]

wow! never heard this one on an old player piano. i think today Yamaha makes a type of player piano that you put a cd in.

[@andersliljevall2946]

Love pianola. Grandpa had a Steck with 150 rolls. Some early Scott Joplin tunes and rolls with entire Wagner operas.

[@Marcel_Audubon]

quite major revisions to the lyrics over the years to make it a song about Gary Cooper (super duper)

[@Dragonrider1227]

I must be very dense. I've read the original lyrics and am unable to figure out what's so politically incorrect about it :/

[@monswine]

@Sage Marchand it's meant to be making fun of poor black people putting on airs for a night of fun downtown. Later versions of the song switched to making fun of the rich folk.

[@mrmusiclover4178]

@@丘比-y3d Sorry, but your remark sounds pretty bigoted, to me. And I am white.

[@Drakelx55]

@@丘比-y3d Jesus christ, I don't know if you're Asian (I assume you are given your username) but you of all people should know that even our people suffered discrimination here in America, especially during this time. For shame, you're a disgrace to our community

[@kristat8139]

@@丘比-y3d Yes, pretty much every mention of black people in the 30s was racist, because it was a racist time. Yes, references to high browns (light-skinned black people) who are poor spending their last two bits, dressed to the nines and sticking out like sore thumbs is, in fact racist. If things are a product of a time where people were inundated with racist tropes, the racist tropes are still... racist. Just because it's old doesn't mean we can't look at it for what it is.

[@LesHaskell]

Here's the original lyrics in an easier to read format (see the link). Note the use of: - Lenox Ave (in Harlem) - "Spending every dime For a wonderful time" - Harlem - "Spangled gowns upon the bevy of high browns From down the levy, all misfits" - "That's where each and every lulu-belle goes Every Thursday evening with her swell beaus Rubbin' elbows" (lulu-belle - old slang for black maid; "Thursday evening" - maid's traditional night off) - jubilee (allusion to Emancipation - see the Civil War song Kingdom Coming: "It mus' be now de kindom coming, an' de year ob Jubilo!) - "see them spend their last two bits" Racist enough to revise for Fred Astaire's "Blue Skies". genius.com/Irving-berlin-puttin-on-the-ritz-lyrics

[@karmayangzom5497]

Wonderful piano, and great clarified lyrics! As in-PC as this is, right or wrong, it was written in the lexicon of the time and wasn't intended to be insulting (or racist). Thanks for posting!

[@kennyball3956]

deep

[@elkinsinboxinc]

Piano Hero

[@shnglbot]

i thought that might be the case, but wasn't sure. thanks for clarifying

[@gaiusflaminius4861]

I thought "PC" stands for "Personal Computer".

[@AeolianHall1]

Thanks for the comment. If you want to hear my favorite orchestral version, go to the link I put on my original posting of this song.

[@dirtydick9]

@AeolianHall1 Thank you for the clue! The Leo Reisman´s is very especial! See ya!

[@chocolatcats]

magnificent

[@cowboyninja00]

I don't see anything bad with those lyric's... can someone please tell me what the matter is.

[@AeolianHall1]

Yes, a few collectors actually have Player Pianos that are more than musical meat grinders.

[@nightlight701]

I want the sheets so badly.

[@PiotrBarcz]

You won't find any for this arrangement

[@ComfortZoneComic]

Nice

[@AeolianHall1]

A lot of songs had their lyrics changed, since society is always changing. Look up "Let's Do It" by Cole Porter and "Limehouse Blues" and "Sweet Georgia Brown on my channel for more examples of changed lyrics.

[@brigjerp]

lol. that was very very different to the lyrics I learned. :D

[@heresjohnny888]

You should have mentioned that this Roll is a "Duo-Art" reproducing roll...that why it sounds so good...of course that brings up another topic,"what is a reproducing piano!!!"

[@marcgoodman4228]

GREAT ROLL WHAT! IS THE PIANO!!!?!??!

[@PiotrBarcz]

A very out of tune Steinway grand that frankly the only thing good about it was the dampers xD

[@aprilmazza3177]

What lyrics? All I heard was the piano.

[@emoryjenkins3203]

April Mazza this is a joke right

[@katieducky23]

Oh my God I'm a complete nitwit and even I can see the lyrics on the right side of the piano sheet music you idiot

[@andrewbarrett1537]

This is what is called a 'word roll', and the words to the song are printed along the right side of the roll for sing-along purposes. Tens of thousands of 'word rolls' have been made, by many different companies. It was the first-ever kareoke.

[@marcgoodman4228]

WHAT! They are on the roll- just look!

[@PotterPossum1989]

These lyrics are hardly offensive. Although technically, if you don't watch the video, you don't even have to bother with the lyrics. So the song is PC at that point.

[@TheDynamon]

i want a piano like that :O

[@Ceazele]

Do you mind if I use this audio for a remix of the song that I plan on doing? Thanks

[@mikealdiblangeo7469]

u better have GOTTEN IN DUN BY NOW

[@PiotrBarcz]

Credit the channel owner who is dead anyway. Link the video in the description or something.

[@JohnDoe-zh4li]

Who cares if it's not "politically correct"? Back then, people could take a punch to the face and continue their day. Nowadays, we're too soft; Harden up!

[@GreenBoy9000]

Or better yet, punch back!

[@christophtinnefeld2075]

Is this Roll played on a Duo Art Player? If not how did you Cover the holes where the Duo Art Expressions are?

[@PiotrBarcz]

Push up pianola with no duo-art holes to begin with and missing the outer 4 notes.

[@USMC_BABE38]

Do you have an phantom of the Opera roll?

[@PiotrBarcz]

He's dead.

[@jayswizzle57]

I don’t hear any lyrics…

[@kennethmitchell565]

I know. Exactly. What are they going overboard with this PC. And the original stuff is better. Even Judy Garland sang this song this way plus Rock a Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody and many others and no one complained. What's next, are they going to change Three Blind Mice to Three Visually Impaired Mice. Like grow up. When I was in like 3rd grade they taught us Oh! Susanna but of course all Stephen Foster songs are banned in school even though they were politically correct versions although I do remember them singing the buck wheat cake part when we were taught it and even that was changed. And of course I have the 1848 sheet music.

[@Pumpkinmarie21]

Okay but the song is still racist. You can deny that. Your just white and dont see others pov.

[@Pumpkinmarie21]

Cant

[@elamite66]

Great! PC is in the eye of the beholder, why do people try to make it fit views that they do not like? human nature I guess? Actually it could just as easily have become the opposite view, so true for sure

[@AeolianHall1]

Bevy refers to a large group of people or things. A Beau is a boyfriend

[@yankleber]

This song is kind of spooky.

[@Sansthehumon]

No

[@keriboyjs]

Piano needs a good tune 😳😳

[@PotterPossum1989]

It's playing it 😎

[@PiotrBarcz]

Yeah it did, too bad Randolph Herr died the same year you said it...

[@AeolianHall1]

Check out Mechanical Music Digest on the web for much information.

[@TheLinposterIsSus]

Week 7

[@andersliljevall2946]

The Ritz is the right place of course.

[@merimar3]

Let's Do It is a really funny song! I love "Ma Plays Majong Now" too. I think that's the actual title.

[@georgewilson7432]

I assume people rallying against "PC" are against common courtesy and politeness.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

​@Sage Marchand P C can indeed be used to unfairly persecute someone who has 'stepped out of bounds' and said something untoward without knowing they did, or knowing it was bad. And- different people have a different amount of tolerance for different things being said. Some people are more easily hurt than others, not always due to thin skin, but especially to past life experience. That being said, I am not in favor of silencing either conservatives OR past (historical, non-living) racism, because- it is history and contemporary people need to know about to realize past mistakes. I mainly am here because I love vintage music and piano rolls. That does not mean I also love past racism, but I realize it is a past people's mistake that people should not fall into the trap of still following today. In fact, were it not for these lyrics, and the YT poster's fascination with them, most or all of the comments would be about THE MUSIC. As for present racism, that SHOULD be shouted down (if not silenced), because it is always bad. On one online news article just posted two days ago, I counted no less than thirty-six either blatantly racist, or coded racist comments (in among all the other comments... for about two-hundred-odd comments, that was still a very large percentage). I did not even know all the 'code words' so had to look them up. It's one thing to see historical racism in the old days when people supposedly didn't know any better; that's bad enough; it's disgusting to still see it today.

[@organbuilder272]

This is a DUO ARTS roll. Amazing engineering. Well if you want to get picky - which some will - all this age of music smacks of racial sport, women being a little too much Admired" You could not get away with these lyrics in 2019. Just you wait and see. Some nosey "Conspirator theorist" will get ahold of these and start screaming about not palying them for the racial and sexual bias they contain.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

I think these are great melodies. You don't have to sing the same words, but the music is timeless. However I think you have a pretty strange idea to conflate people espousing common decency with people who follow conspiracy theories.

[@scottleft3672]

Where's the "political correction" potential....i see but harmlessness.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

Also, 'politically correct' is a term invented by racists to try to fool average people into thinking common decency is somehow tied into either politics, or subterfuge, when it is neither. I don't use that term because 1. to hell with politics and politicians, and 2. decency is decency.

[@scottleft3672]

@@andrewbarrett1537 Politics is that annoying thing that the schooled dorks fail to master, we only need it when we are outnumbered...sadly....it is a word overused to describe a groups point of view......PC = groupthink....and like most things designed by a committee, it rarely flies.

[@scottleft3672]

@@andrewbarrett1537 And i don't think it's 'racists" so much as BIGOTS...and they are the worst hypocrits when it comes to stopping others points of view, so as to install their own.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

@@scottleft3672 I'm sorry, I can't understand what you mean by "schoold dorks frew p to master".

[@scottleft3672]

@@andrewbarrett1537 Don't know what happened there?...maybee i was falling asleep....i get up for work early.

[@karmayangzom5497]

(*un-PC)

[@Serithe]

Would any other old white guys like to share their opinions about "PC culture," like they're the most original and thought-provoking things in the world? Man, the fact that people can't perform in blackface like they originally did with this song, isn't that PC gone maaad?

[@height5558]

Yes.

[@CheeseMan78]

dude, the way those keys where played on that piano man. there triggering my inner rage. next time you put a roll in that thing make sure that it checks its privilege before hand.

[@andrewbarrett1537]

I see you have carefully selected a pic of Charley Patton for your trolling account.

[@CheeseMan78]

@@andrewbarrett1537 maybe I was a troll two years ago but now I try not to be

[@andrewbarrett1537]

@@CheeseMan78 Glad to hear it!

[@nanchogan3067]

I always thought it was "high brows" I had to look that up to be sure I knew the meaning, "intellectual snob" and I don't think I ever heard a version with all the racist commentary

[@steinwaygrande3971]

Why is every one so concerned about this idiotic PC rubbish. Never was around when I was growing up and now growing old, we have this nonsense to contend with.

[@statueteethtv]

Steinwaygrande i dont know if i can take you serious

[@steinwaygrande3971]

I am serous. I have NEVER subscribed to this Political Correctness hogwash . I`ll call it as I see it. Lits of people around the world feel the same way as I do. - each to their own I guess

[@statueteethtv]

Steinwaygrande well i agree aswell

[@steinwaygrande3971]

Thanks.

[@BilliardsLover]

Too many tender people getting their feelings hurt. Ahhh... Get a life and spend your time on something productive.

[@garymattscheck9066]

I don't care about PC!

[@DavidGiumenti-sm6yi]

Its sounds wonderful post more on that old cat house job

[@antoniod]

Almost NOBODY knows this was about African-Americans.

[@albertpeckham8708]

I love the sound but.....the piano needs a good tuning. Out of tune pianos are for the uneducated.

[@PiotrBarcz]

Randolph Herr, the late owner of this channel, said he was tone deaf himself so the piano would probably fall out of tune quite badly before he would notice and do anything about it.