Thomas S. Allen (1876–1919), an early figure in Tin Pan Alley, was an American vaudeville composer, manager, and violinist.^[1] He was born in Natick, Massachusetts, and died in Boston.

Popular songs

In 1902, his popular fusion of schottische and ragtime, "Any Rags", became a major hit. Its companion song is "Scissors to Grind".

Modern impact

• "Whip and Spur" (1902) is performed at circuses and rodeos.
• "Low Bridge, Everybody Down", also known as "Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal" or "Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal" (1913) is a well-known song, often referred to as a folk song. Included in the Seeger Sessions, folk album by Bruce Springsteen
• T. S. Eliot spliced lines together from two songs for The Waste Land.^[2]