Features and Reviews
Joseph F. Lamb: A Biography
By Russell Cassidy
Part IV
Nineteen fifteen saw the publication of four compositions: "Cleopatra Rag," "Reindeer rag," "Ragtime Nightingale" and "Contentment Rag." "Cleopatra" and "Reindeer" were probably equal to most of the rags of 1915, but "...were written between classic rags." Lamb's pattern of first composing then naming his rags was reversed with "Nightingale." He had been impressed by Ethelbert Nevin's "Nightingale Song" in an Etude Magazine and "...James Scott had written a 'Ragtime Oriole' so I thought I would write a 'Ragtime Nightingale.' There was a part in it I liked and I used it as an introduction to the last theme. I didn't know what a nightingale sounded like, but I wanted something that sounded like a bird and I thought that would be all right."
The extremely beautiful harmonic construction of "Ragtime Nightingale" is an excellent example of Lamb's natural, although academically untrained abilities as a composer. Questioned at length about this rag, he replied: "Regarding 'Nightingale' and harmony, you are interested, you say, in getting an insight into the manner in which I compose. No dice. I can't tell you. I don't know myself...it's definitely not academic—I never actually studied it. What I might have read about it had no reference whatever to how I handled it, so for the sake of harmony, I'll say it must be intuitive. The harmony I used, while sometimes intricate, always came out all right. I don't know the rules of harmony, but I do know it sounded all right."
Following a short discourse on passing tones and other aspects of "Nightingale," Joe continues: "You'll find things of that nature in classical music. You say you don't find this particular thing in many other rags (major seventh intervals). That may be so. There are probably a number of phrases, chords and harmonies in my rags that are not in others'. That's what makes Lamb rags typically 'Lamb.' You will notice (certain peculiarities) in Joplin's, Scott's, and others'."
Although published in 1915, "Contentment Rag" was actually written about 1909, as its style of composition attests. During his visits with the Starks at their publishing office, Lamb had been impressed by their devotion to each others. He named one of his rags "Contentment Rag" in honor of them, and took it in as a fiftieth anniversary present, to the particular delight of Mrs. Stark. A cover design was drawn depicting an elderly couple sitting by their fireplace, but before it was published, Mrs. Stark became ill and the Starks returned to their home in St. Louis where she died in 1910. When "Contentment" appeared five years later, the cover picture showed a lone man seated, smoking his pipe.
In 1916, Stark published two more Lamb rags: "Patricia Rag" and "Topliner Rag." These two numbers are fairly representative of the style of writing toward which Lamb was evolving. Both contain rather long, lilting arpeggio passages. This is especially true in the trio of "Patricia," where a two-bar phrase runs from the bass to the treble. "Topliner" probably shows James Scott's influence in the trio section. In both rags Lamb has achieved the climax in the last theme by means of a more expansive use of the melodic line, rather than using predominantly rhythmic devices as in earlier rags.
Lamb's last published rag, "Bohemia," appeared in 1919. He did not consider it a classic rag, because of its relatively simple, "light" melodic line which was not written in the flowing style he had evolved. However, "Bohemia" is marked by two innovations. In the second theme, Lamb seemed to have liked two ideas for part of the bass line, so the performer is given his choice of either part, ad lib, and between repeats of the trio, a 12-bar interlude is used with harmonic variations of the trio theme.
During the years from 1907 to about 1914, Lamb wrote several other rags and parts of rags which were not published. The list of titles reads as follows: "Dynamite Rag," "Old Home Rag—A Syncopated Characteristic," "Greased Lightning," "Bee Hive Rag," "The Jersey Rag," "The Ragtime Special—A Slow Drag Two Step (Respectfully dedicated to my friend, Scott Joplin)," "Rapid Transit—Slow Drag," "Toad Stool Rag," "Alabama—Characteristic Two step," "Blue Grass Rag," "Good and Plenty Rag," "Hyacinth—A Rag," "Sunset—A Ragtime Serenade," and "Symphonic Syncopations." "I would write one out and then another one would get into my head and I'd write that. I'd like that one better so I'd send it to Stark and the first one would lie dormant for awhile. It might be sent later, but the dormant ones sort of accumulated and that's how I had so many of them left. Take for instance 'Dynamite' and 'Old Home Rag.' Those two were shown to Joplin at the same time as 'Sensation.' They are both marked 'Arranged by Scott Joplin.' When Joplin spoke to Stark about them, he probably suggested 'Sensation' to start with. In the meantime I was writing 'Excelsior' and 'Ethiopia' which I liked better than the other two, so when Stark told me about the success of 'Sensation' I told him I had two others he could have for nothing. He said he didn't want them even though he said they were hard, especially 'Excelsior'-- and since I refused to take anything for them, he took them anyway. My idea was to get them published. I didn't send the others (unpublished rags) to anyone because I wasn't satisfied with them, but now that I go over some of them occasionally, they don't seem so bad after all and I'm kind of sorry I didn't send them in."
When asked of the possibility of publishing his fourteen old rags, Lamb replied, "There are eight that could be used as they are, and two with only two strains each but which can't be joined together to make one complete rag—not compatible with each other. That's about all that could be used. You saw one called 'Hyacinth.' I didn't think too much of it when I wrote it and neither did Stark when I sent it in, so I used the first strain and made it the first strain of 'Patricia.' Part of the rest of it was a little too much like 'Maple Leaf's' harmony. Stark sent it back calling my attention to the similarity. You know, playing so many of other people's rags, some parts of them may stick so much in your mind that you unconsciously incorporate them in your own. I always tried to avoid that although now that I go over them I do see some phrase or measure that sounds like someone else's even though I can't locate the other fellow's (rag). I have also noticed in some of Joplin's and Scott's, written after some of mine, some little part sneaks in."
The intriguing possibility of an early syncopated predecessor to Lamb's rags may have been the result of an enthusiastic boyhood pretentiousness. When asked about a number entitled "Coontown Frolics—Two Step by J. Francis Lamb, 'One of Lamb's Famous Hits,'" he replied, "I was looking for it today and so far can't locate it. It must be around someplace...I never threw any of my manuscripts out. Blesh says it bore the date of 1900 but it seems to me it was earlier than that.* I don't remember my dating any of my manuscripts. Besides, I don't think there was anything else besides that 'cover.' I don't remember writing such a piece, but I have a lot of stuff on paper from away back and it could have been one of them. I must have had a premonition then of later success, but I doubt very much if that piece would have created much of a furore either then or now."
*Blesh and Janis, They All Played Ragtime, page 240
Joe was married in June of 1911 to Miss Henrietta Schultz, whom he had known most of his life, and they moved from Montclair to Brooklyn to be closer to Joe's work, which at that time was in a dry goods commission house. After about five years there, Joe decided to try his hand in the song-plugging and arranging business with the J. Fred Helf music publishing company. "It was there that I got my first inkling that I really was good at harmony. I made all their piano arrangements 'because,' said Fred, 'my harmonies were different from others.' Later when he went bankrupt he wanted to get me in with another publisher, but I decided I didn't like the life—sometimes plugging the rathskellers and movie houses and cabarets until three in the morning. No soap! That was just--what shall I say?...a strange interlude in my career. I did that for a few weeks while I was with Helf because I thought it might help my musical career. It didn't because New York publishers didn't seem to have any particular interest in rags. Several rags were published in New York, but if you go over them you will notice that very few were of the type that you and I are interested in. Joplin had a few of them (published), but I don't recall others offhand. When Helf found out I could arrange he figured, I guess, that he would save money by having me arrange and not need a regular arranger. He took me off the plugging and gave me the arranging, which I did at home nights instead of being up until three or four in the morning. That interlude might have helped my musical career in that it was a means of my getting several jobs of arranging (which I did at home) from other publishers and writers because (get this!) they liked my harmony. The arranging continued for a number of years...(Helf) didn't do anything with instrumental music, but I didn't care because I was already writing for Stark and was on the way to becoming one of the so-called leaders in the field, and one of the 'Big Three,' in your language."
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