When we discuss the worth of an artist or works of art, we often cite the “test of time” as a measure, usually prematurely. But in looking back one hundred years to the first decade of the twentieth century, the test of time is a good way to begin to examine the history of recorded music. Consider a list of the music and the musicians of the 1900s, and there are people and songs that remain familiar a century later. Among the musical figures, several names (Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Scott Joplin, and John Philip Sousa) remain generally well known, and a few others (Enrico Caruso, Victor Herbert, and Jerome Kern) are recognizable to many music fans. When it comes to songs, however, a greater number remain immediately hummable, among them “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home?,” “By the Light of the Silvery Moon,” “Casey Jones,” “The Entertainer,” “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “In the Good Old Summertime,” “Sweet Adeline,” “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis,” “Shine On, Harvest Moon,” “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” “Toyland,” “Wait till the Sun Shines, Nellie,” “The Yankee Doodle Boy,” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”