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*Run-DMC’s 1986 album “Raising Hell,” Chic’s disco staple “Le Freak” and The Temptations’ timeless classic “My Girl” are among the 25 titles added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress as audio treasures worthy of preservation.
The recordings, announced today by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, are chosen for their cultural, historic and aesthetic importance. Under terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian, with advice from the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB), must select 25 titles per year that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and are at least 10 years old.
“This annual celebration of recorded sound reminds us of our varied and remarkable American experience,” Hayden said. “The unique trinity of historic, cultural and aesthetic significance reflected in the National Recording Registry each year is an opportunity for reflection on landmark moments, diverse cultures and shared memories—all reflected in our recorded soundscape.”
The recordings selected for the class of 2017 bring the total number of titles on the registry to 500, a small part of the Library’s vast recorded-sound collection of nearly 3 million items.
Other recordings, which span from 1911 through 1996, include “If I Didn’t Care” by the Ink Spots, Harry Belafonte’s 1956 album “Calypso,” “How I Got Over” by Clara Ward and the Ward Singers and the single “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” by Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine.
Watch/hear highlights from the list below, followed by the full list of new additions to the Registry:
“If I Didn’t Care” (single), The Ink Spots (1939)
In 1939, when songwriter Jack Lawrence brought his new song to Bill Kenny and the other three members of his group—The Ink Spots—Kenny and his bandmates were at first reluctant to record it. Yet, they did, and soon after, it became one of the best-selling singles in history, eventually moving 19 million copies worldwide. The song’s lovely opening guitar riff, flawless countertenor-singing and arresting mid-song spoken-word passage created a recording that is charming, haunting, evocative and both timely and timeless more than 75 years after its release. “If I Didn’t Care” has since been covered by everyone from Connie Francis to Bryan Ferry, while the original has become a go-to standard for use in movies, television shows and even video games.
“Sitting on Top of the World” (single), Mississippi Sheiks (1930)
Guitarist Lonnie Chatmon and violinist Walter Vinson styled themselves as the “Mississippi Sheiks” when they were recorded by an OKeh Records field recording team in Shreveport, Louisiana, in February 1930. At the time, the word “sheik” was slang for a suave lover, inspired by Rudolph Valentino’s success in the films “The Sheik” and “Son of the Sheik.” They had recorded before with other players, and the name might not have stuck but for the success of a song from the session entitled “Sitting on Top of the World.” Though the guitar and violin pairing was not unique in blues at the time, the song was structured differently than most other commercial blues records, and the melody, as well as the ironic, defiant refrain of the title, stayed with listeners from the first hearing. The song, composed by Vinson, quickly became part of the Southern and Southwestern musical vernacular, with distinctive versions recorded by black and white artists, including Charlie Patton, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Bill Monroe, Ray Charles, Howlin’ Wolf and many others.
“How I Got Over” (single), Clara Ward and the Ward Singers (1950)
Clara Ward wrote her song “How I Got Over” in gratitude for and as a promise to overcome the challenges and struggles she met in her life. The song has served as a song of praise and a call to action ever since. According to her sister, Willa, she wrote it after the singers were menaced with racial epithets while on their way to a performance at an Alabama church. This experience led Clara to contemplate hardship and survival, and she published her reworking of a gospel standard as “How I Got Over.” The Ward Singers were one of the earliest female gospel performing groups to bring their distinctive sound outside the church and into popular culture. Mahalia Jackson performed the song at the 1963 March on Washington, and it has remained vital as a standard in the gospel genre and via the work of many artists, including The Blind Boys of Alabama and Aretha Franklin.
“Calypso” (album), Harry Belafonte (1956)
The child of a Jamaican mother and a Martinican father, Harry Belafonte had tried singing conventional pop songs in New York in the 1940s, but was drawn to the city’s small but vibrant folk scene of the time. There, he encountered Josh White, Pete Seeger and Lead Belly and developed a folk-influenced repertoire that included West Indian songs. In the fall of 1955, he performed several Caribbean songs in a televised musical production number, including “Day-O,” a Jamaican folk song he adapted with his friend, writer, Bill Attaway, and Irving Burgie, another New York singer with West Indian roots. The positive audience response convinced Belafonte that a full album of such songs was viable. The album “Calypso,” featuring “Day-O” and more song contributions by Burgie, was released in May 1956, on the heels of Belafonte’s second album, which had been the nation’s best-selling LP in April. “Calypso” proved to be a far bigger hit, exceeding all expectations. The title was evocative; only a few of the songs on the album were actually in the calypso song form of Trinidad, which Belafonte acknowledged. The album was rather a masterfully presented celebration and exploration of Caribbean song. Initially, it sold mainly to the older audience that purchased albums. However, when “Day-O” and “Jamaica Farewell” were released as singles, Belafonte became popular with the teenage audience as well, a unique achievement at the time, and perhaps the reason that “Calypso” is still a much-beloved album.
“King Biscuit Time” (radio), Sonny Boy Williamson II and others (1965)
Blues harmonica master Sonny Boy Williamson II (aka Rice Miller, 1912-1965) achieved his first wide popularity as a regular performer on the daily daytime radio show “King Biscuit Time,” sponsored by the flour brand of the same name, in West Helena, Arkansas, in 1941. From early on, he was billed as “Sonny Boy Williamson,” the name used by popular blues recording artist John Lee Williamson (1914-1948), a star of the Chicago blues scene. Their styles were different, but the name stuck, and although he did not record commercially until 1951, the second Sonny Boy reached a large audience, becoming a best-selling blues artist himself when he relocated to Chicago. In the early 1960s, he found a young, large and even worshipful blues audience in Europe and toured there extensively, working with young musicians from groups like the Animals and the Yardbirds. When he returned to Arkansas in early 1965, he reportedly told friends that he expected to die soon, but he kept performing and made a return appearance on “King Biscuit Time.” On May 25, 1965, he failed to show up for his broadcast and was later found dead in his room. “King Biscuit Time” is still heard daily on KFFA. Sunshine Sonny Payne, the host of this lone surviving broadcast featuring Williamson, died earlier this year at the age of 92, having continued as host until shortly before his death.
“My Girl” (single), The Temptations (1964)
“Were it not for The Temptations, I never would have written ‘My Girl,’” declared Smokey Robinson, who co-wrote the song and co-produced the recording with fellow Miracle Ronald White. According to Robinson, “My Girl” wasn’t written about a specific girl, but it was written for a specific guy, David Ruffin. Robinson felt Temptations tenor Ruffin could be a star if he had the right song to show off his talent. Both he and The Temptations (Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams and Otis Williams) believed “My Girl” was that song and began working out the arrangements and rehearsing it while on the road. The recording took place in Studio A of Hitsville U.S.A., Motown’s Detroit headquarters and featured the legendary group of session musicians known as the Funk Brothers. One of the most remarkable outcomes of “My Girl” is that James Jamerson’s barely there opening bassline has become so iconic that the song is instantly recognizable from just those three notes. Guitarist Robert White quickly adds an ascending guitar riff, a pentatonic scale. From there, the sound builds, layer by layer: finger snaps, drums, Ruffin’s lead vocal, other members of the Funk Brothers, vocal harmonies by the other Temptations and, finally, strings by members of the Detroit Symphony. “My Girl” was at the top of the charts for only one week, but it remained on jukeboxes for years, becoming a classic of the Motown era.
“Le Freak” (single), Chic (1978)
One of the most influential disco acts of the 1970s, the five-member band Chic had a unique sound propelled by the innovative, funky guitar work of guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. Rodgers and Edwards were also the writers of this, the group’s biggest hit—an infectious, danceable confection that lyrically celebrated the then-moment (with its mention of “54”) as well as the past (with its mention of the Savoy), while rhythmically keeping everyone on the dance floor in motion. Chic’s work has gone on to influence a host of other acts, including Madonna, Mtume, The Pointer Sisters, The Sugarhill Gang, Evelyn “Champagne” King, Teena Marie, Shalamar, Soul II Soul and Justin Timberlake, among others. Despite the supposed “death” of disco, Chic’s “Le Freak” has become a staple of wedding receptions, movie soundtracks and nightclubs.
“Raising Hell” (album), Run-DMC (1986)
Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Joseph “Run” Simmons and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell, or Run-DMC, introduced hip-hop to mainstream audiences on this, their third and best album. DMC has observed that the lyric from “My Adidas,” which affirms that “[w]e took the beat from the street and put it on TV,” describes what the album achieved as a whole. The album’s mass appeal can partially be explained by their collaboration with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith on a remake of the rock band’s 1975 hit “Walk This Way.” Co-producer and guitarist Rick Rubin added power chords and guitar riffs on the title track, lending the album a rock flavor in keeping with DMC’s mission to “take rock to the left.” While this element of rock with a twist brought many new fans, songs like “Peter Piper” stayed true to the band’s earlier stripped down minimalism in which only beats, lyrics and samples were required.
“Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” (single), Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine
(1987) From the moment of her debut on the U.S. charts—fronting the Miami Sound Machine with their 1985 earworm “Conga”—Gloria Estefan has been recognized as not only the banner-carrier for Latin rhythms within American music but also for her superlative vocal abilities. She is equally adept in either slow, contemplative ballads or, as in this selection, with high-octane, dance-oriented party anthems. “Rhythm,” the first single from Estefan and the Machine’s 1987 album “Let It Loose,” was co-written by Estefan and Sound Machine drummer Enrique “Kiki” Garcia. His pounding backbeat, along with the song’s lively congas and Estefan’s spirited vocals, have turned “Rhythm” into a modern classic and one that repeatedly proves the promise made in its title.
2017 National Recording Registry (Listing Titles in Chronological Order)
- “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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