[Intro Chopped ragtime piano with factory whistle and stadium crowd] Clock out Lights up Whole town moving when the workday stops [Verse 1 Swinging hip hop flow with ballpark chants] Factory work was heavy but the whistle drew lines Farmwork ran around clock with no closing time Hours and days gave the workers room New ways to play started coming in bloom Baseball ruled with the hometown sound National and American Leagues drew crowds Black players barred from the major league stage An unfair line in the national game World Series started in nineteen oh three Football packed colleges by the eighteen nineties Naysmith made basketball for winter gym play New games gave America new ways to spend days [Chorus Bright brass over ragtime piano and heavy drums] Clock out Lights up Everybody outside Ballpark Stage show City coming alive Watch it move Watch it swing See it on the screen Hear the whole town sing When the workday ends Let the good times begin New age New stage Let the whole world in [Verse 2 Vaudeville rap with claps and projector clicks] Curtain rose high and the footlights shined Big city theaters had a show every night Shakespeare stories could command the stage Then vaudeville came with a fast new wave Dancers, singers, comics, magic One packed show made the whole night happen Cheap ticket price made the front row grow Vaudeville became the most popular show Eighty circuses traveled by nineteen ten Then Edison made moving pictures begin Five cent film at the nickelodeon Silent little screens made an industry win [Chorus Bright brass over ragtime piano and heavy drums] Clock out Lights up Everybody outside Ballpark Stage show City coming alive Watch it move Watch it swing See it on the screen Hear the whole town sing When the workday ends Let the good times begin New age New stage Let the whole world in [Verse 3 Gallery beat switch with upright bass] European influence had guided the frame Then American artists created their lane Real life subjects put the nation in view American places with an American hue Remington painted the West as it ran Native Americans and cowhands on land Homer caught farmers and campers at play Storms on the sea in a powerful gray HASSum made New York and New England glow City and country in an Impressionist flow Whistler made Mother an icon in black American art put the nation on the map [Chorus Bright brass over ragtime piano and heavy drums] Clock out Lights up Everybody outside Ballpark Stage show City coming alive Watch it move Watch it swing See it on the screen Hear the whole town sing When the workday ends Let the good times begin New age New stage Let the whole world in [Verse 4 Ragtime flow with New Orleans brass and jazz drums] Sousa made marches that stirred up the street Washington Post with a Stars and Stripes beat New Orleans musicians made a new sound rise Blending the blues to give jazz its first prize Work songs, gospel, spirituals, drums Different traditions, see how one becomes Jelly Roll Morton put his name in the mix Making jazz a hot record by nineteen-twenty-six Ragtime bounced with the accents displaced Syncopation put the surprise in its pace Scott Joplin led with a piano command Left hand steady while the right hand danced New York, Boston, Philly would play World-class orchestras leading the way Singers and conductors came ready to go Performing for crowds at the Met’s biggest show [Final Chorus Full brass band with ragtime piano and bass drop] Clock out Lights up Everybody outside Ballpark Stage show City coming alive Watch it move Watch it swing See it on the screen Hear the whole town sing When the workday ends Let the good times begin New age New stage Let the whole world in Clock out Lights up Everybody outside New sound New crowd American life amplified [Outro Solo ragtime piano with distant applause] After the whistle The city found time To play To create To paint To rhyme
