The National Library of Congress has shared its latest batch of musical inductees to the National Recording Registry. The 25 works — a mix of singles, field recordings, albums and soundtracks — represent myriad genres and time periods, and bring the Registry's overall catalog up to 500 entries.
From pop, the class includes The Temptations' 1965 hit single "My Girl"; Tony Bennett's 1962 love song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"; the soundtrack to The Sound of Music; Harry Belafonte's 1965 album Calypso; Arlo Guthrie's 1967 anti-war monologue "Alice's Restaurant Massacree"; the 1967 compilation New Sounds in Electronic Music, which included separate works from Steve Reich, Richard Maxfield and Pauline Oliveros; Chic's indelible disco hit "Le Freak" from 1978; and Run-D.M.C.'s 1986 album Raising Hell.
Other timeless inductions run the gamut from Arthur Schnabel's The CompleteBeethovenPiano Sonatas (1932-1935), the works' first recordings, to historical field recordings of songs, preserved on wax cylinders by George Herzog in 1928, from the Sioux's Yanktonai-Dakota band. The cylinders captured songs of the band following its relocation to Standing Rock Reservation (near the site of the protracted Dakota Access Pipeline protests) and songs recalled from times prior to establishment of the reservation. The 1930 bolero folk song "Lamento Borincano" gave a voice to the plight of Puerto Rico's farming community during the Great Depression. NBC's two-month radio series covering the United Nations Conference on International Organization, which took place in San Francisco between April and June, 1945, gives a fly-on-the-wall account of how the United Nations' charter was created.
The 2017 inductees are listed chronologically below.
"Dream Melody Intermezzo: Naughty Marietta" (single), Victor Herbert and his Orchestra (1911)
Standing Rock Preservation Recordings, George Herzog and Members of the Yanktoni Tribe (1928)
"Lamento Borincano" (single), Canario y Su Grupo (1930)
"Sitting on Top of the World" (single), Mississippi Sheiks (1930)
The Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas (album), Artur Schnabel (1932-1935)
"If I Didn't Care" (single), The Ink Spots (1939)
Proceedings of the United Nations Conference on International Organization (4/25/45-6/26/45)
Folk Songs of the Hills (album), Merle Travis (1946)
"How I Got Over" (single), Clara Ward and the Ward Singers (1950)
"(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock" (single), Bill Haley and His Comets (1954)
Calypso (album), Harry Belafonte (1956) album
"I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (single), Tony Bennett (1962)
"King Biscuit Time" (radio), Sonny Boy Williamson II and others (1965)
"My Girl" (single), The Temptations (1964)
The Sound of Music(soundtrack), Various (1965)
"Alice's Restaurant Massacree" (single), Arlo Guthrie (1967)
New Sounds in Electronic Music (album), Steve Reich, Richard Maxfield, Pauline Oliveros (1967)
An Evening with Groucho (album), Groucho Marx (1972)
Rumours, (album), Fleetwood Mac (1977)
"The Gambler" (single), Kenny Rogers (1978)
"Le Freak" (single), Chic (1978)
"Footloose" (single), Kenny Loggins (1984) remake released in 2011.
Raising Hell (album), Run-DMC (1986)
"Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" (single), Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine (1987)
Yo-Yo Ma Premieres: Concertos for Violoncello and Orchestra (album), Various (1996)
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