"You've Been a Good Old Wagon" is a classic Bessie Smith blues number, recorded in 1925, introduced to many in the 1960s (including me) by Dave Van Ronk. It turns out, though, that the song was first a ragtime tune, composed by Ben Harney in the 1890s. Harney misleadingly boasted that he was" the father of ragtime," but it does seem that "You've Been a Good Old Wagon" may have been the first published ragtime sheet music.
Music begins at 2:40, but the story is worth hearing:
The Cyrillic says, "Blues Old Wreck, Anatoly Kroll" (who I assume is the pianist):
According to Van Ronk, Clarence Williams claimed to have written "You've Been a Good Old Wagon," although it was published by Ben Harney about thirty years earlier. Williams was no doubt referring to the Bessie Smith blues arrangement -- he produced her recording and probably played the piano accompaniment. The blues number is so different from Harney's ragtime version as to be a different song with the same title:
And yes, Clarence Williams was the grandfather of the late actor Clarence Williams III, who played Linc on The Mod Squad, among other roles.
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