In 1899 there was also a very successful pop song called Hello! Ma Baby which was certainly in the ragtime genre.
There is some question as to the authorship, though the names of Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson appear on the sheet music as joint authors and composers. According to Maxwell F. Marcuse in Tin Pan Alley in Gaslight (Amazon.com) the lyrics were written at least in part by Andrew Sterling who, Marcuse adds, “claimed to be the author of the song.” In any event, the author or authors and composer were white.
It’s a cheery little song, one of the many written about that new gadget, the telephone. And its lyric indicates that it is a “coon song.” It is a cakewalk kind of tune, the principal rhythmic device of which is the succession of eighth, quarter, and eight notes.
