[Disclaimer: This song is from a time when racial caricatures were used for comedy entertainment. Sheet Music Singer intends no malice by singing this song. It is presented in its original form as part of music history.]
a popular song from 1902
words and music by Thomas S. Allen
The ragpicker was an independent trash collector. There is a Betty Boop cartoon that shows a Rag Man in action. He dealt in other people’s trash, rummage, and garbage. It was a form of recycling.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment:
Lyrics
1. Did you ever hear the story of Ragged, Jagged Jack?
Here he comes down the street with a pack on his back
He comes in the morning, and he comes at night
And he gobbles up everything in sight
He wakes up the neighborhood for miles around
He’s a reg’lar alarm clock, always wound
He gets beneath your window when you try to get to sleep
And yells in a voice so loud and deep:
Chorus
Any rags? Rags? Any rags, any bones, any bottles today
There’s a big black rag picker coming this way
Any rags? Rags? Any rags, any bones, any bottles today
It’s the same old story, in the same old way
2. If you happen for to leave a thing out all night
You get up in the morn and it’s gone from yer sight
You’ll know then that Ragged Jack has been that way
He’s a very bad omen, people say
He stole all his furniture, he stole his wife
If he’d steal from his friend, he’d steal yer life
He never gets molested as he daily walks about
But things disappear when he yells out:
Sung here by Fred Feild: