“The Missouri Waltz”
By Edgar Lee “Jelly” Settle
Lee Edgar Settle was born in New Franklin MO, on July 20, 1882. The son of J. M. and Laura (Van Aradale) Settle. He was born at 114 N. Howard Street. Edgar Settle was a natural piano player and began playing at the age of five or six years, showing exceptional talent.
At the age of seventeen, he left home and travelled with musical shows throughout the country. He played many events in New Franklin and was a master at playing ragtime, the popular music of the 1900s. He was given the “Jelly” by his friends, presumably after the popular ragtime piano player of the day, “Jellyroll” Martin.
During his life, he made several attempts at publishing original music, but was never successful. His greatest success, which was laden with controversy, was his composition of the “The Missouri Waltz”. He performed his original melody, which he had called “Graveyard Waltz” at many public functions around the state, but he never wrote the music down.
John Valentine Eppel, musician and orchestra leader, heard “Jelly” play his song during intermission at a dance engagement. Eppel liked the tune so much he copied down the melody. Frederick Knight Logan, a composer and arranger, procured the rights to the tune from Eppel and paid for the printing and publishing of the first 1000 copies of sheet music. By 1940, about six million copies had been sold and became the second most popular sheet music sold for several years. Settle was never given official credit for the composition.
On June 30, 1949, the Missouri Senate declared, “The Missouri Waltz” as the official song of Missouri. Lee Edgar “Jelly” Settle died on February 4th 1949 and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in New Franklin, Missouri, never knowing his original tune became the state song of Missouri. The South Howard County Historical Society erected a stone monument of his unmarked grave in 1992.