Glen Campbell, Eddy Arnold Classics Added To National Recording Registry

Pictured (L-R): Glen Campbell, Eddy Arnold. Photos: Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Hits from Eddy Arnold, Glen Campbell, Village People, Selena and Whitney Houston have been added to the National Recording Registry, the organization announced on March 25.

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden named 25 songs and albums as “aural treasures worthy of preservation because of their cultural, historical and aesthetic importance to the nation’s recorded sound heritage,” according to a statement.

Among those selections are Eddy Arnold’s “Make The World Go Away” and Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman.”

Arnold’s “Make The World Go Away” released in 1965, and was penned by songwriter Hank Cochran; the song’s sweeping string section and Arnold’s smooth vocals are a sample of the countrypolitan brand of country music, part of the “Nashville Sound” that producer Chet Atkins and others made popular in the ’60s. Musicians on the track included guitarist Grady Martin, pianist Floyd Cramer and the Anita Kerr Singers, as well as an eight-piece string section.

Campbell’s 1968 hit “Wichita Lineman,” penned by Jimmy Webb, also crossed over onto the pop charts. The song topped the Hot Country Songs chart as well as the Adult Contemporary chart and rose to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Other songs selected for inclusion include the 1995 single “I Will Always Love You,” the Dolly Parton-penned track made into an 8x-multiplatinum, international smash by the late vocalist Whitney Houston as part of the soundtrack to the film The Bodyguard. Village People’s 1978 single “Y.M.C.A.” and late Tejano singer Selena’s 1990 album Ven Conmigo (the first album by a female Tejano artist to achieve Gold status, and which has now been certified 3x-multiplatinum) are also among the works selected to be added to the registry.

The new recordings added to the National Recording Registry bring the total number of titles on the registry to 550, a small part of the Library’s vast recorded-sound collection of nearly 3 million items.

The full list of selections is below:

1. Whispering” (single), Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra (1920)
2. “Protesta per Sacco e Vanzetti,” Compagnia Columbia; “Sacco e Vanzetti,” Raoul Romito (1927)
3. “La Chicharronera” (single), Narciso Martinez and Santiago Almeida (1936)
4. “Arch Oboler’s Plays” episode “The Bathysphere.” (Nov. 18, 1939)
5. “Me and My Chauffeur Blues” (single), Memphis Minnie (1941)
6. The 1951 National League tiebreaker: New York Giants vs. Brooklyn Dodgers — Russ Hodges, announcer (Oct. 3, 1951)
7. Puccini’s “Tosca” (album), Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Angelo Mercuriali, Tito Gobbi, Melchiorre Luise, Dario Caselli, Victor de Sabata (1953)
8. “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh” (single), Allan Sherman (1963)
9. WGBH broadcast of the Boston Symphony on the day of the John F. Kennedy assassination, Boston Symphony Orchestra (1963)
10. “Fiddler on the Roof” (album), original Broadway cast (1964)
11. “Make the World Go Away” (single), Eddy Arnold (1965)
12. Hiromi Lorraine Sakata Collection of Afghan Traditional Music (1966-67; 1971-73)
13. “Wichita Lineman” (single), Glen Campbell (1968)
14. “Dusty in Memphis” (album), Dusty Springfield (1969)
15. “Mister Rogers Sings 21 Favorite Songs From ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ ” (album), Fred Rogers (1973)
16. “Cheap Trick at Budokan” (album), Cheap Trick (1978)
17. Holst: Suite No. 1 in E-Flat, Suite No. 2 in F / Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks / Bach:  Fantasia in G (Special Edition Audiophile Pressing album), Frederick Fennell and the Cleveland Symphonic Winds (1978)
18. “Y.M.C.A.” (single), Village People (1978)
19. “A Feather on the Breath of God” (album), Gothic Voices; Christopher Page, conductor; Hildegard von Bingen, composer (1982)
20. “Private Dancer” (album), Tina Turner (1984)
21. “Ven Conmigo” (album), Selena (1990)
22. “The Chronic” (album), Dr. Dre (1992)
23. “I Will Always Love You” (single), Whitney Houston (1992)
24. “Concert in the Garden” (album), Maria Schneider Orchestra (2004)
25. “Percussion Concerto” (album), Colin Currie (2008)