The man who made his name in the moving picture show
Was the man whose face we saw, but his voice we didn't know
The only things we heard him say were on cards we read too slow
The man who made them speak was Ragtime Piano Joe

It was the only life that he knew
Ragtime Piano Joe
It was the only thing he could do
Ragtime Piano Joe
And when the hero walked in the door
Or Charlie Chaplin fell through the floor
Who was it made the show
Ragtime Piano Joe

Al Jolson mooned and crooned and talking pictures came to town
Hoagy Carmichael played a tune, it really brought Joe down
And Busby Berkeley clinched the deal and all the flicks had sound
Joe took his life one night, they say that he was drowned

It was the only life that he knew
Ragtime Piano Joe
It was the only thing he could do
Ragtime Piano Joe
And when the hero walked in the door
Or Charlie Chaplin fell through the floor
Who was it made the show
Ragtime Piano Joe
And when the hero walked in the door
Or Charlie Chaplin fell through the floor
Who was it, who was it
Ragtime Piano Joe

If late at night into the movie house you go
Sit at the back, stay out of sight, you can still hear Ragtime Joe
When the crowds have gone
The old time songs, the ones we used to know
Can still be heard, but very faint
It's the ghost of poor old Joe

It was the only life that he knew
Ragtime Piano Joe
It was the only thing he could do
Ragtime Piano Joe
And when the hero walked in the door
Or Charlie Chaplin fell through the floor
Who was it made the show
Ragtime Piano Joe

It was the only life that he knew
Ragtime Piano Joe
It was the only thing he could do
Ragtime Piano Joe
And when the hero walked in the door
Or Charlie Chaplin fell through the floor
Who was it, who was it
Ragtime Piano Joe