"A Real Slow Drag" Interpretation by Tay Zonday

This is my favorite Scott Joplin piece. It is the finale of his Opera "Treemonisha" in which the cast dances an allegory for Afro-American salvation in the hard times of aborted southern Reconstruction. It has lyrics that are led by Soprano and Alto protagonists.I corrected about a dozen of the most glaring mistakes in post-production -- this interpretation is beyond my present playing ability to get through without messing up a number of times . . . though part of that's my fault as it is significantly embellished beyond the original. A lot of mistakes are left in and the tempo is not very stable . . . so this is certainly a work in progress. Note: The keyboard graphic actually misses a few notes in faster passages (e.g. parts of the left hand from 4:05 to 4:45) . . . it was only captured at 20FPS and I think some notes ended up between frame captures. I'll need to figure out how to get it to work better. The lyrics are as follows:Treemonisha: Salute your partner. Do the drag, drag, drag.Stop and move backward. Do the drag. All of you stop. Look to your right and do the drag, drag, drag. To your left, to your left, that's the way. (Chorus)Marching onward, marching onwardMarching to that lovely tune.Marching onward, marching onward, Happy as a bird in June. Sliding onward, sliding onward, Listen to that rag. Hop. And skip. Now do that slow, do that slow drag. Dance slowly, prance slowly, While you hear that pretty rag. Dance slowly, prance slowly, Now you do the real slow drag. Walk slowly, talk slowly, Listen to that rag, Listen to that rag, Hop. And skip. Now do that slow, do that slow drag. Move along, don't stop, don't stop dancing. Drag along, doing the real slow drag. (Chorus)

Channel: Music
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: TayZonday

Length: 05:03
Rating: 4.70
Views: 127352

Tags: Black  Classical  Dance  Funny  HIstory  Hot  Joplin  Music  Piano  Ragtime  Real  Scott  Sexy  Song  Tay  Unsigned  Video  Voice  Zonday  

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