Ben Harney

Benjamin Robertson Harney (March 6, 1872 – March 2, 1938) was an American songwriter, entertainer, and pioneer of ragtime music. His 1895 composition "You've Been a Good Old Wagon but You Done Broke Down" is known as the first ragtime composition to be published and the first ragtime hit to reach the mainstream. The first Ragtime composition published was La Pas Ma La written by Ernest Hogan in 1895. The copyright for "You've Been a Good Old Wagon but You Done Broke Down" was registered in January 1895 (Greenup Music Co.)source, a few months prior to La Pas Ma La (September 1895, J. R. Bell)source, suggesting (contrary to popular belief) it was in fact the first of the two.