Boogie chillen! New National Recording Registry picks!

¶ WASHINGTON (AP) _ Twenty-five culturally significant recordings _ including a 70-year-old radio broadcast of Marian Anderson's recital at the Lincoln Memorial, Dylan Thomas reading of "A Child's Christmas in Wales" and Winston Churchill's post-World War II speech that coined the term Iron Curtain _ will be preserved in a special sound archive.
¶ Every year the Librarian of Congress selects sound recordings to include in the National Recording Registry. This year's batch, being announced Wednesday, also includes signature performances from several artists such as Etta James' "At Last!," The Who's "My Generation" and Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner doing their 2000-year-old man routine.
¶ The recordings are nominated by members of the public and a panel of music, sound and preservation experts, the library's National Recording Preservation Board. The panel also aids the librarian in selecting what recordings to add to the archive.
¶ With the new recordings, the archives will include 275 fragments of sound.
¶ The 2008 additions to the registry are:
¶ _"No News, or What Killed the Dog," Nat M. Wills (1908)
¶ _ Acoustic Recordings for Victor Records, Jascha Heifetz (1917-1924)
¶ _ "Night Life," Mary Lou Williams (1930)
¶ _ Sounds of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (1935)
¶ _ "Gang Busters" (1935-1957)
¶ _ "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen," Andrews Sisters (1938)
¶ _ "Que e Que a Bahiana Tem?" Carmen Miranda (1939)
¶ _ NBC Radio coverage of Marian Anderson's recital at the Lincoln Memorial (April 9, 1939)
¶ _ "Tom Dooley," Frank Proffitt (1940)
¶ _ "Uncle Sam Blues," Oran "Hot Lips" Page, accompanied by Eddie Condon's Jazz Band. V-Disc (1944)
¶ _ The Mary Margaret McBride Program, Zora Neale Hurston and Mary Margaret McBride, (Jan. 25, 1943)
¶ _ "Sinews of Peace" (Iron Curtain) Speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., Winston Churchill (March 5, 1946)
¶ _ "The Churkendoose," Ray Bolger (1947)
¶ _ "Boogie Chillen," John Lee Hooker (1948)
¶ _ "A Child's Christmas in Wales," Dylan Thomas (1952)
¶ _ "A Festival of Lessons and Carols as Sung on Christmas Eve in King's College Chapel, Cambridge," King's College Choir; Boris Ord, director (1954)
¶ _ "West Side Story," original cast recording (1957)
¶ _ "Tom Dooley," the Kingston Trio (1958)
¶ _ "Rumble," Link Wray (1958)
¶ _ "The Play of Daniel: A Twelfth-Century Drama," New York Pro Musica under the direction of Noah Greenberg (1958)
¶ _ "At Last!," Etta James (1961)
¶ _ "Rank Stranger," Stanley Brothers (1960)
¶ _ "2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks," Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (1961)
¶ _ "The Who Sings My Generation," The Who (1966)
¶ _ "He Stopped Loving Her Today," George Jones (1980)
¶ ___
¶ On the Net:
¶ National Recording Preservation Board: http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb
¶

 

A lot of great choices this time around.

 

So any ventures as to what is a "Churkendoose?"

 

What? No Deep Purple?

 

I always wondered if one could physically listen to these at the "special sound archive", and what sources do they use? Do they find a mint original lp of The Who Sings My Generation, or do they just preseve the latest CD?

 

They're never going to induct Rush into the Hall of Fame, are they?

Oops, wrong thread.

Thanks for the new list, and for reminding me that this project exists. I forgot that they've previously included such interesting modern choices as:
Daydream Nation. Sonic Youth. (1988)
Fear of a Black Planet. Public Enemy. (1989)
Nevermind. Nirvana. (1991)
Graceland. Paul Simon. (1986)

How does a British performed and recorded album like "The Who Sings My Generation," The Who (1966) make the United States' National Recording Registry, though?

According to the criteria and nomination procedures:

Only thing I can think of is that the album includes a couple of cover songs of iconic USA artists (Bo Diddley and James Brown).

Ah, I see that listing a British performed/recorded album is not unprecedented. In 2003, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles. (1967) was included, and that has all original songs on it. I know the Beatles had a significant impact on USA/global culture, but . . . I guess any musical recording produced anywhere in the world could potentially make this list, if it had a significant enough global and/or USA cultural, historical, or aesthetical impact?

Craig.

 

I suspect the inclusion of big-name bands with very popular songs like the Beatles or the Who are included as a form of promotion for the list. Marketing reasons, more than anything else, look as a likely cause.

 

If it's America's national recording registry, why are the Who included in it?

 

I only vaguely remember the record, but the word comes from chicken, turkey, duck and goose. I think it's some sort of hybrid fowl.

 

well, yeah, if Hooker wasn't included before, this is a righteous choice!

BUT far more surprising: LINK WRAY - RUMBLE !!!!
now there's a song that started a sound lasting till this day all on its own...

 

That is kind of strange. The selections at the U.S. National Film Registry all have American involvement, though in a few cases (e.g., Lawrence of Arabia) it's somewhat indirect.

 

Whew, thanks. My mind is now at ease.

 

It is a Rolling Stone magazine conspiricy.

 

The sound archive actually contains 96 kbps MP3 versions of all of this material, in archival quality.

 

A few details here:

In the case of The Who Sings My Generation, at least some of the American LP master is lost (hence the problems in finding a good reissue source for "Circles"). Dunno what they'll do with that album.

 

Sounds like "turducken", which is what some people eat at Thanksgiving. It's a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken.