Unlike most of his rags, Joplin's Wall Street Rag was inspired by the Knickerbocker Crisis of 1907 and includes footnotes in the score unique to the theme of this piece. The opening section begins with Panic in Wall Street, Brokers feeling melancholy, representing the first phase of the recession. The next section Good times have come, providing an atmosphere of hope within the crisis. The rag finally closes with financial worries chased away during economic revitalization: Listening to the strains of genuine negro ragtime, brokers forget their cares.