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National Recording Registry Adds 25 Notable Audio Efforts
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Rapper’s Delight, Sugarhill Gang, 1979. Album cover
courtesy of Sugarhill Records
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The earliest known commercial sound recording in existence is
among audio innovations and innovators being added to the Library of
Congress National Recording Registry.
Broadcast
history, spoken-word artifacts and great musical recordings come together in
the recordings named annually for preservation. The registry turns 10 this year
and now includes 350 selections.
New to the list are radio
greats Fred W. Friendly and Edward R. Murrow, voices of former slaves,
the recording “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” iconic hip-hop tune “Rapper’s
Delight” and the song “I Feel Love” by the late Donna Summer.
To hear a montage, press the play button on the audio icon.
The oldest known commercial sound recording is “Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Star” sung by an unidentified Edison employee onto a
5/8-inch-wide tin cylinder created in 1888 by an Edison company that made
talking dolls for children.
The library says this is the first children’s
recording and possibly the first recording to be made by someone paid to
perform for a sound recording. It could not be played in modern times until
2011 when its surface was scanned using digital mapping tools.
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I Can Hear It Now: 1933-1945, Edward R. Murrow,
1948. Album cover courtesy Columbia Records
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Also in the registry, Friendly and Murrow are
consisting of speech excerpts and
news reports.
According to the library, Friendly “spent months
locating and copying 100 hours of broadcast disc recordings, using newly
introduced magnetic recording tape to create compelling montages … The ease of
editing and recording on magnetic tape allowed the creation of portions of the
album that are now controversial, such as the fabrication of a break-in
announcement of the Pearl Harbor attack, and the re-recording of a newscast to
replace a damaged original.”
The
library tries to identify and preserve the best existing versions of each
recording. The registry now contains 350 recordings dating to 1888. The full list appears below. Find
detailed descriptions of each, and more audio clips, here.
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2011 National Recording Registry (chronological order)
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1. Edison Talking Doll cylinder (1888)
2. “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star,” Lillian Russell (1912)
3. “Ten Cents a Dance,” Ruth Etting (1930)
4. “Voices from the Days of Slavery,” Various speakers (1932-1941
interviews; 2002 compilation)
5. “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s
Sweetheart,” Patsy Montana (1935)
6. “Fascinating
Rhythm,” Sol Hoopii and his Novelty Five (1938)
7. “Artistry
in Rhythm,” Stan Kenton & and his Orchestra (1943)
8.
Debut performance with the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (November
14, 1943)
9. International Sweethearts of Rhythm:
Hottest Women’s Band of the 1940s (1944-1946)
10. “The
Indians for Indians Hour” (March 25, 1947)
11. “Hula
Medley,” Gabby Pahinui (1947)
12. “I Can Hear It Now,”
Fred W. Friendly and Edward R. Murrow (1948)
13. “Let’s
Go Out to the Programs,” The Dixie Hummingbirds (1953)
14.
“Also Sprach Zarathustra,” Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(1954, 1958)
15. “Bo Diddley” and “I’m a Man,” Bo
Diddley (1955)
16. “Green Onions,” Booker T. & the
M.G.’s (1962)
17. “Forever Changes,” Love (1967)
18. “The Continental Harmony: Music of William Billings,”
Gregg Smith Singers (1969)
19. “A Charlie Brown
Christmas,” Vince Guaraldi Trio (1970)
20. “Coat of Many
Colors,” Dolly Parton (1971)
21. “Mothership Connection,”
Parliament (1975)
22. Barton Hall concert by the
Grateful Dead (May 8, 1977)
23. “I Feel Love,” Donna
Summer (1977)
24. “Rapper’s Delight,” Sugarhill Gang
(1979)
25. “Purple Rain,” Prince and the Revolution
(1984)
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