From Perfesser Bill Edwards - Rag Expert, we get the following: "This popular ditty, penned by a pharmacist from Oskaloosa, Iowa, became better known than its composer. It literally climbed up the publication ladder from Wiley's initial self-published release in 1903 up to that of the far reaching Jerome H. RemickCarbarlick). While limited in the scope of its content and for the most part technically simple, Car-Barlick Acid is rag that is entertaining to both play and to listen to. The A section is little more than a repetitive phrase of two notes, varied mostly through different syncopations. The bass octaves that begin the second strain forecast a similar line which would be related to boogie and boogie-woogie styles, both more than two decades off. Particularly clever for the time is the use of the right thumb and forefinger for the primary melody in the trio, underneath treble chords. The last iteration of the B section is written out just as it is heard here, with only half of the strain repeated and a rather obvious tag line. It is hard to take liberties with a piece that induces the rapid tempo that this one does." firm in 1907. It is also interesting to note that the pharmacist purposely misspelled "carbolic" using a hyphen, while the later publications removed the hyphen from their covers and kept the spelling (Perfesser Bill Edwards).
Order Status