page_title: Lyons and Yosco
section_title: Works
hierarchical_section_title: Lyons and Yosco / Works
caption_attribution_description: English: Sheet music cover for "Spaghetti Rag" by Lyons and Yosco
context_page_description: Lyons and Yosco were an American comedy duo, consisting of Italian American musicians George Lyons and Bob Yosco. They were defined by the Ottawa Evening Journal "the finest pair of Italian street musicians playing in the Vaudeville ranks." They toured the United States from 1909 into 1923, doing a musical and comedy act. The News Journal described their performance, saying they were "the best vocalists and instrumentalists of the street variety on the stage, proved intensely interesting, while their droll comedy kept the audience laughing much of the time."
  They were also successful composers of popular music, including ragtime. One of their best known works was the million-selling ragtime piece, "Spaghetti Rag" which was notably popular during the ragtime revival in the 1950s. Their compositions were recorded by performers for Victor Records and Columbia Records.
context_section_description: According to David A. Jasen, in his book Ragtime gems: original sheet music for 25 ragtime classics, sheet music for ragtime songs sometimes sold a million copies (the standard of today's Platinum Record for recorded music). It tended not to happen as quickly as with music sales today, taking as long as 20 years for the hit "Maple Leaf Rag", but it did happen.
  "Spaghetti Rag" (1910) was part of a list of million-selling songs that included Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" and Charles L. Johnson's "Dill Pickles Rag". A different version was published in 1950, with words added by Dick Rogers. Although it was long a staple of their vaudeville act, they never recorded it. The earliest record was made by banjoist Vess L. Ossman (1 July 1912), and probably the most known version was performed by Robert Maxwell (1950), arranged for harp, tenor banjo and tuba.
  "Spaghetti Rag" became popular in the swing and honky-tonk music scenes, being covered by artists such as Jack Fina (January 1950), Ray Anthony (March 1950), Frankie Carle (March 1950), Beatrice Kay (April 1950), Jan August (July 1950), Russ Morgan (January 1952), Johnny Maddox (1955), Joe "Fingers" Carr (1956), Big Tiny Little (1957), Claude Thornhill (March 1959) and Jo Ann Castle (1960). It is also cited as an influence on Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag".
  Lyons and Yosco also composed popular songs like:
  "I'm Coming Back to Dixie and You", lyrics by Frank Mullane, performed by The Peerless Quartet (16 June 1914) and Frank Crumit (14 April 1920).
  "Rose of Italy", lyrics by Edgar Selden, performed by Walter Van Brunt (1915)
  "I Miss You", lyrics by George Lyons and Bob Yosco, performed by Edwin Dale (December 1922)
caption: Cover of sheet music "Spaghetti Rag" (1910)
exif: {}