Library of Congress 25 New Songs Chosen for National Recording Registry: Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” EW&F’s “September,” ” “La Bamba,” “Sweet Caroline,” and More

The Library of Congress has chosen 25 new recordings for the National Sound Registry. It’s an electic and terrific group including “Soul Man,” “Sweet Caroline,” Yiddish recordings, Jay Z, and more. Also on the list is the soundtrack to “Hair,” Cyndi Lauper’s debut recording, and “Minnie the Moocher.” Plus Earth Wind & Fire’s essential “September.”

The awards go to the recordings themselves and the people who made them. (Oddly today, by coincidence, David Porter, who wrote the lyrics to “Soul Man” for Isaac Hayes, has released his own Greatest Hits with re-recorded instrumentals of their famous Sam & Dave songs. The album notes make no mention of the performers. Skip it.)

Congrats to all the inductees!

2018 National Recording Registry

1. Yiddish Cylinders from the Standard Phonograph Company of New York and the Thomas Lambert Company (c. 1901-1905)
2. “Memphis Blues” (single), Victor Military Band (1914)
3. Melville Jacobs Collection of Native Americans of the American Northwest (1929-1939)
4. “Minnie the Moocher” (single), Cab Calloway (1931)
5. “Bach Six Cello Suites” (album), Pablo Casals (c. 1939)
6. “They Look Like Men of War” (single), Deep River Boys (1941)
7. “Gunsmoke” — Episode: “The Cabin” (Dec. 27, 1952)
8. Ruth Draper: Complete recorded monologues, Ruth Draper (1954-1956)
9. “La Bamba” (single), Ritchie Valens (1958)
10. “Long Black Veil” (single), Lefty Frizzell (1959)
11. “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Vol. 1: The Early Years” (album), Stan Freberg (1961)
12. “GO” (album), Dexter Gordon (1962)
13. “War Requiem” (album), Benjamin Britten (1963)
14. “Mississippi Goddam” (single), Nina Simone (1964)
15. “Soul Man” (single), Sam & Dave (1967)
16. “Hair” (original Broadway cast recording) (1968)
17. Speech on the Death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy (April 4, 1968)
18. “Sweet Caroline” (single), Neil Diamond (1969)
19. “Superfly” (album), Curtis Mayfield (1972)
20. “Ola Belle Reed” (album), Ola Belle Reed (1973)
21.  “September” (single), Earth, Wind & Fire (1978)
22. “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” (single), Sylvester (1978)
23. “She’s So Unusual” (album), Cyndi Lauper (1983)
24. “Schoolhouse Rock!: The Box Set” (1996)
25. “The Blueprint” (album), Jay-Z (2001)