DESCRIPTION:
Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan sing Irving Berlin's "Stop That Rag" on Edison Standard Record 10363, issued May 1910 (as announced in the March 1910 issue of EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY).

Words By Irving Berlin. Music By Ted Snyder.

Does my ears deceive me, or are you's goin' mad?
Honey, please believe me, that my hearin' ain't bad.
But something seems to tell me that you're list'nin' to rag--
I've been suspectin' so all night!
Tunes you've heard befo' was only music what ain't.
Melody like this is what no artist can't paint
I'll get ya some ammonia 'cause I fear you must faint
I'm suffocating with delight.

Stop dat rag, keep on playin', honey.
Stop dat rag, hear me prayin', honey.
Run away, I feel that I must be alone,
But don't you dare to leave me 'till the cows come home.
Cease dat strain, please repeat it, honey.
Once again, and I'll meet it, honey.
Oh, I'm sad--no, I am glad! Stop dat rag,
I'm sayin'--I mean keep on playin'!
Don't you dare to stop dat rag!

Call in some physician, 'cause I feel that you're ill
Somehow or another, hon', my feet won't keep still
Please request that leaderman to keep a-playin'
till I cry "enough, enough!--some more!"
I'll take ya miles and miles away from here anywhere
Just raise a hand to move me, mister man, if you dare
Hon, I'll never forgive you just for bringin' me
here--I'm satisfied to die right now.

The team of Collins and Harlan was the most successful duo of the acoustic era.

Collins and Harlan performed comic songs in various dialects, cut rube skits, and covered songs satirizing trends of the day, including the new "jass" music introduced in Chicago clubs in late 1916 (the duo made the first record ever to refer to "jass"--the word "jazz" would not come into use until months later in 1917).

Some songs were sentimental (which suited Harlan's tenor voice well), not comic (Collins recorded comic songs on a regular basis as a solo artist).

Before teaming with tenor Byron G. Harlan, baritone Arthur Collins had a partner in tenor Joe Natus for a year. Collins and Natus made 19 Edison cylinders in 1901-1902 and several Victor recordings. Around this time Collins sang in an Edison ensemble called the Big Four Quartet, which recorded five titles issued in 1901. Harlan was one of the quartet's tenors; Natus was the other; A. D. Madeira was bass.

Collins and Harlan probably harmonized for the first time as members of this Edison quartet. By 1903 Natus no longer worked for Edison. The June 1903 Edison Phonograph Monthly announces that "I Must Have a Been a Dreamin'" (Standard 7850), sung by Arthur Collins and Joe Natus, would be "hereafter...sung by Collins and Harlan." Collins and Harlan made new takes of various titles originally cut for Edison by Collins and Natus.

The first time Arthur Collins was paired with Byron G. Harlan for a Victor session was on October 31, 1902 (Harlan's first Victor session).

They were again paired a day later, on November 1. They cut five titles on October 31, including "The First Rehearsal of the Huskin' Bee" (1723), a rube skit. Many of their early recordings are "rube" sketches with songs, such as "Closing Time in a Country Grocery" (Victor 1728; Burke & Rous cylinder 236) and "Two Rubes in a Tavern" (Victor 1727; B & R 239), and they continued recording rural comedy for years, Harlan performing it into the 1920s. Harlan recorded these same three titles with Frank C. Stanley, who wrote the sketches.

Collins and Harlan's first Edison cylinders were "Down Where the Wurzburger Flows" (8238) and "Troubles of the Reuben and the Maid" (8239), issued in late 1902 (they cut the latter for Columbia seven-inch 944 and ten-inch 944). They recorded many "rube" skits for Edison.

The duo made cylinders for the Lambert Company, with "Jerry Murphy Is A Friend of Mine" issued around 1903 on blue Lambert 935.

A Victor session on March 3, 1903, is noteworthy since Collins cut duets with Natus, then recorded numbers with Harlan. It was the last session for the team of Collins and Natus. Natus made Victor discs for another two years but only solo recordings, mostly of popular ballads. His last Victor session was on April 28, 1905.