next day. He played the piano from then on. He would play songs he heard in the clubs, including Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin, Cannonball Rag by Joe Northrup, Black and White Rag by George Botsford, and Don't Hit that Lady Dressed in Green, about which he said "the lyrics to this song were a sex education, especially for a twelve year old boy.". His other favorites picked up from the saloons were She's Got Good Booty and Baby, Let Your Drawers Hang Low. By the early 1910s, he was playing at clubs in New York City and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Smith served in World War I, where he saw action in France. He also played drum with the African-American regimental band led by Tim Brymn, and basketball with the regimental team. Legend has it that his nickname "The Lion" came from his reported bravery while serving as a heavy artillery gunner. He was a decorated veteran of the 350th Field Artillery, a regiment of the Buffalo Soldiers. Around 1915, he married Blanche Merrill (née Howard). Smith and Merrill are thought to have separated before Smith joined the army in 1917, where he served as a corporal. But they were listed in the 1920 census as living together in Newark, New Jersey. Merrill was white, and Smith was the only man in their apartment building who was classified as black on this census. He returned to working in Harlem clubs and at "rent parties". Smith and his contemporaries James P. Johnson and Fats Waller developed a new, more sophisticated piano style later called "stride". In the 1940s, his music found appreciation with a wider audience. Smith toured North America and Europe up to 1971. To leave the US, he needed a birth certificate. He went to the Orange County Courthouse and found it, but discovered that the birth certificate said he was born on November 25, in contradiction to his mother telling him he was born on November 23. Personal life Smith had 10 brothers and a sister (including half-siblings). His older brother Jerome died at the age of 15. His other older brother, George, became an officer in Atlantic City, and died in 1946. Willie said of George: "Our paths didn't cross very often in later life. His friends and connections were always on the other side of the fence from mine." His half-brother Robert owned a