I'm reliably informed that the first to play this was the band on the Titanic, causing the Captain to run the ship into an iceberg to prevent him having to listen to it on the return leg.
As for its 'recent' popularity I can confirm it was fetching decent money/popular well over four years ago, because I had copies for sale at Middleton, also from Vals, and if I were in his store now I could lay my hands on at least 10 copies.