The entertainer - Marvin Hamlisch

'The entertainer' is a 1902 classic piano rag written by Scott Joplin. It was sold first as sheet music in Missouri and in the 1910s as piano rolls that would play on player pianos. The first recording was by blues and ragtime musicians the Blue Boys in 1928, played on mandolin and guitar.

As one of the classics of the ragtime genre, it returned to international prominence as part of the style revival in the 1970s, when it was used as the theme music for the 1973 Oscar-winning film The Sting. Composer and pianist Marvin Hamlisch's adaptation reached number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 25 in the UK singles chart. As you can see on the sleeve of this single, it was proclaimed 'Alarmschijf' in the Netherlands and went on to reach number 6 in the Dutch Top 40 in the summer of 1974.

My collection: 7" single no. 8406
Found: Walk-in, Zutphen, 15 August 2026 
Tracks: 'The entertainer' / 'Solace'