{"id":22140,"date":"2015-05-03T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-03T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=22140"},"modified":"2026-07-22T18:41:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T01:41:06","slug":"cover-me-alexanders-ragtime-band-zoom-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2015\/05\/03\/cover-me-alexanders-ragtime-band-zoom-theme\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander’s Ragtime Band (Zoom Theme)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, I knew this was coming sooner or later, so I might as well get it over with.\u00a0\u00a0I should probably preface this with: For Completists Only.<\/em><\/p>\n

So here’s the deal:<\/p>\n

There’s a song in Bruce’s catalog referred to by fans and bootleggers as “Zoom Theme.”\u00a0\u00a0It’s considered a Springsteen original; it should therefore receive an entry under the Roll of the Dice\u00a0<\/em>banner.<\/p>\n

The thing is: by no stretch is “Zoom Theme” an original Springsteen song. Reference texts and sites describe at as a re-written version of Irving Berlin’s “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” but there’s very little re-written about it.<\/p>\n

Here’s the original, first recorded by Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan in 1911.<\/p>\n