"Root Beer Rag" is a song from Billy Joel

Billy Joel

William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...

's 1974 album Streetlife Serenade

Streetlife Serenade

Streetlife Serenade is Billy Joel's third album, and his second with Columbia Records.Streetlife Serenade was released in 1974 , after the hit songs "Piano Man" and "Captain Jack" from the album Piano Man...

. An instrumental track in a very fast ragtime

Ragtime

Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...

 style, it was later released as the B-side of the "Honesty

Honesty (Billy Joel song)

"Honesty" is a song by Billy Joel released in 1979 as the third single from his album 52nd Street. It was solely written by Joel, while production was handled by Phil Ramone. It reached number 24 on the U.S...

" single, and a live version was included with the DVD that was part of the 30th anniversary re-release of The Stranger

The Stranger (album)

The Stranger is the fifth studio album by musician Billy Joel, released in 1977 . While his four previous albums had been moderate chart successes, this was his breakthrough album, and is generally regarded by critics as his magnum opus, spending six weeks at #2 in the U.S. album charts...

.

Numerous cover versions of the song exist, notably by Ten Grands VIII and by Wise Guys

Wise Guys (band)

The Wise Guys are a band that began in early 1990 in Cologne, Germany. They are an a cappella group.-History of the Group:Apart from Ferenc Husta and Nils Olfert, the members all attended the Hildegard-von-Bingen-Gymnasium in Cologne from 1981 to 1990. With their schoolmates Clemens Tewinkel and...

. The original Billy Joel version was also used as the theme music to a 1980s sports program in New Zealand broadcast by TV One. It was also used in the 1980s on Radio Bayern 3 in Germany for the Saturday and Sunday late morning show called Musikbox. The song is in C major

C major

C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....

 and makes up one of three studio instrumentals that he has released.

"Root Beer Rag" was also the name of a Billy Joel newsletter (now defunct) published in the late 1970's to early 1980's.

In the liner notes, unlike other songs on the album, which under the title tells about the inspiration or story behind each song, on this song Joel notes simply "I love root beer

Root beer

Root beer is a carbonated, sweetened beverage, originally made using the root of a sassafras plant as the primary flavor. Root beer, popularized in North America, comes in two forms: alcoholic and soft drink. The historical root beer was analogous to small beer in that the process provided a drink...

". He goes on to say: