"Swipesy" by Scott Joplin and Arthur Marshall (video)

[pianistavt]

This rag has been one of my favorites since I first stumbled across it many years ago, finally learned it thoroughly enough to record.

Feedback / comments welcome.

[pianistavt]

Background info:
The "Swipesy Cakewalk" is a ragtime composition published in 1900 by a musical duo consisting of Scott Joplin, who likely composed the trio, and the young composer Arthur Marshall, who most probably composed the rest of the piece with oversight from Joplin, when Joplin was living with the Marshall family and teaching Arthur composition.  A popular legend says that the title was suggested by John Stillwell Stark, one of Joplin's original publishers, when "Swipesy" was first being considered for publication. The photograph which was to appear on the cover of the new (and unnamed) composition featured a young Sedalia newsboy with a shy but wily expression on his face. Stark allegedly remarked that the boy's countenance seemed to suggest that he had just "swiped" something from a cookie jar. "Lets call it 'Swipesy'," said Stark, and thus the title was decided. Marshall gave another explanation of the title's origin during a 1960 interview: he and Joplin had just delivered the music to Stark's office when two newspaper boys began quarreling outside, one swiped a newspaper from the other, and Stark, upon observing this, suggested that they name the work "Swipesy".