“Over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland is only now in the National Recording Registry? Almost eighty years after it was released? Makes you wonder what’s in there already. (Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg must be laughing in heaven.) Added today are Garland’s signature hit, plus “Hound Dog” (Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber’s hit was recorded next by Elvis), Don McLean’s “American Pie,” “In the Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett, and Barbra Streisand’s “People.” Really, you have to wonder why it took so long for most of these additions. Someone go and tell the Registry people the Beatles are in town next week.
2016 National Recording Registry (Listing Titles in Chronological Order)
1. The 1888 London cylinder recordings of Col. George Gouraud (1888)
2. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (singles), Manhattan Harmony Four (1923); Melba Moore and Friends (1990)
3. “Puttin’ on the Ritz” (single), Harry Richman (1929)
4. “Over the Rainbow” (single), Judy Garland (1939)
5. “I’ll Fly Away” (single), The Chuck Wagon Gang(1948)
6. “Hound Dog” (single), Big Mama Thornton (1953)
7. “Saxophone Colossus,” Sonny Rollins(1956)
8. The Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, announced by Vin Scully (September 8, 1957)
9. “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs,” Marty Robbins(1959)
10. “The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery,” Wes Montgomery (1960)
11. “People” (single), Barbra Streisand (1964)
12. “In the Midnight Hour” (single), Wilson Pickett(1965)
13. “Amazing Grace” (single), Judy Collins (1970)
14. “American Pie” (single), Don McLean (1971)
15. “All Things Considered,” first broadcast (May 3, 1971)
16. “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,” David Bowie (1972)
17. “The Wiz,” original cast album (1975)
18. “Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975),” Eagles (1976)
19. “Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha,” Gunter Schuller, arr. (1976)
20. “Wanted: Live in Concert,” Richard Pryor (1978)
21. “We Are Family” (single), Sister Sledge (1979)
22. “Remain in Light,” Talking Heads (1980)
23. “Straight Outta Compton,” N.W.A. (1988)
24. “Rachmaninoff’s Vespers (All-Night Vigil),” Robert Shaw Festival Singers (1990)
25. “Signatures,” Renée Fleming (1997)
