Searchlight Rag

The "Searchlight Rag" is a ragtime composition by Scott Joplin, first published in 1907. It was named after the town of Searchlight, Nevada, where his friends had gone prospecting, inspiring the title.^[1]

In 1907, the "Searchlight Rag" by Scott Joplin was published. In the early 1890s, Joplin's friends, the brothers Tom and Charles Turpin, had done prospecting in the Searchlight, Nevada area. The brothers' frequent stories of this experience, recounted to the patrons of their bar, inspired the title of the rag.^[1]

Intro A A B B A C C D D^[2]

The copyright was registered August 12, 1907 to Joseph W. Stern and Company of New York.^[2]

Like most Joplin compositions, "Searchlight Rag" was still under copyright during the ragtime revival of the 1970s, and the holder of copyrights for this piece, "Fig Leaf Rag" and "Rose Leaf Rag" withheld permission for their inclusion in the definitive New York Public Library edition of Joplin's works^[3] and other collections.

The "Searchlight Rag" was used as "Ragtime Style" music in RollerCoaster Tycoon's Added Attractions and Loopy Landscapes expansion pack and the game Roller Coaster Tycoon 2.

• List of compositions by Scott Joplin

• Sheet music and midi from Mutopia
• Youtube video of "Searchlight Rag" being played

Complete List of Works by Scott Joplin

Full List

• Compositions

Piano rags

• "Original Rags" (1899)
• "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899)
• "Peacherine Rag" (1901)
• "The Easy Winners" (1901)
• "A Breeze From Alabama" (1902)
• "Elite Syncopations" (1902)
• "The Entertainer" (1902)
• "The Strenuous Life"
• "The Ragtime Dance" (1902/1906)
• "Weeping Willow" (1903)
• "Palm Leaf Rag" (1903)
• "The Sycamore" (1904)
• "The Favourite" (1904)
• "The Cascades" (1904)
• "The Chrysanthemum" (1904)
• "Leola" (1905)
• "Eugenia" (1906)
• "Nonpareil" (1907)
• "Gladiolus Rag" (1907)
• "Searchlight Rag" (1907)
• "Rose Leaf Rag" (1907)
• "Fig Leaf Rag" (1908)
• "Wall Street Rag" (1908/1909)
• "Sugar Cane" (1908)
• "Country Club" (1909)
• "Euphonic Sounds" (1909)
• "Paragon Rag" (1909)
• "Pine Apple Rag" (1910)
• "Stoptime Rag" (1910)
• "Silver Swan Rag" (1914/1971)
• "Magnetic Rag" (1914)
• "Pretty Pansy - incomplete, lost, and unpublished" (1915?)
• "Recitative Rag - incomplete, lost, and unpublished" (1915?)
• "Reflection Rag" (1971 - Attributed)

Waltzes

• "Harmony Club Waltz" (1896)
• "Augustan Club Waltz" (1901)
• "Bethena" (1905)
• "Binks' Waltz" (1905)
• "Pleasant Moments" (1909)

Marches

• "Great Crush Collision" (1896)
• "Combination March" (1896)
• "Cleopha" (1902)
• "March Majestic" (1902)
• "Rosebud" (1905)
• "Antoinette" (1906)

Operas

• A Guest of Honor (1903)
• Treemonisha (1911)

Habaneras

• "Solace" (1909)

Collaborations

• "Swipesy Cakewalk - With Arthur Marshall" (1900)
• "Sunflower Slow Drag - With Scott Hayden" (1901)
• "Something Doing - With Scott Hayden" (1903)
• "Lily Queen - With Arthur Marshall" (1907)
• "Heliotrope Bouquet - With Louis Chauvin" (1907)
• "Sensation" (1908)
• "Felicity Rag - With Scott Hayden" (1911)
• "Kismet Rag - With Scott Hayden" (1913)

Songs

• "Please Say You Will" (1895)
• "A Picture of Her Face" (1895)
• "I Am Thinking of My Pickaninny Days - lyrics by Henry Jackson" (1902)
• "Little Black Baby - lyrics by Louis Armstrong Bristol" (1903)
• "Maple Leaf Rag - Song Version - words by Sydney Brown" (1904)
• "Sarah Dear - lyrics by Henry Jackson" (1905)
• "Good-bye Old Gal Good-bye - music by Mac Darden; Arr. Joplin" (1906)
• "Snoring Sampson - words and music by Harry la Mertha; Arr. Joplin" (1907)
• "When Your Hair Is Like the Snow - lyrics by Owen Spendthrift" (1907)
• "Pine Apple Rag - Song Version" (1910)
• "Lovin' Babe - words and music by Al. R. Turner; Arr. Joplin" (1911)
• "Morning Glories - incomplete, lost, and unpublished" (1915)
• "For the Sake of All - incomplete, lost, and unpublished" (1915)

Stage Works

• "The Ragtime Dance - Folk ballet for piano, singing narrator, and dancers; first performed 1899" (1902)
• "A Guest of Honor - Opera in Three Acts - lost" (1903)
• "Treemonisha - Opera in Three Acts" (1911)
• "Syncopated Jamboree - vaudeville - lost" (1915)
• "If - musical comedy - lost" (1916)

Other

• "School of Ragtime - 6 Exercises for Piano - Instructional Manual" (1908)
• "Symphony No. 1 - lost" (1916?)
• "Piano Concerto - lost" (1916?)

Related

• Scott Joplin House State Historic Site
• The Sting (1973 film)
• Scott Joplin: Piano Rags (1970)
• Scott Joplin (1977 film)
• Scott Joplin (1982 painting)
• Vera Brodsky Lawrence