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April 19, 2006
Sounds Worth Saving: Prelude
Over the weekend, I couldn't help but notice one of my favorite kind of news articles: another list. And I figured that if nothing else cold get me out of my "I don't feel like blogging" rut, it could be making another list. So I have the National Recording Registry to thank for inspiration here. See, they just released this year's list of recordings that are going into the Library of Congress' collection of historic recordings. Once deemed worthy of inclusion in the collection, a recording is preserved with the latest technology, similar to the way they protect old books or documents, so that the master tape degrades as little as possible, and the recording is kept alive for posterity.
They came up with 50 this year, and the whole collection is now at 200. I could probably come up with 50, or even 200. But it would take too long, and I'm trying to break a blog rut. So my list is only 25. But I started thinking about it... which recordings and sounds have been the most indelible in my life? Which things either made a distinct and permanent impression on me, or are such that I can recognize their historical value (remember, way back when and before I became a professional blog-type person, or a speechwriter, or a PR flack, or a political hack -- geez, I've had a lot of incarnations during my professional career! -- I was a history major in undergrad and entertained thoughts of one day teaching history, so I actually do have a little sense of historical value, even if 15+ years after getting the degree I've still never used it)?
In other words.... be they musical recordings, great speeches, audio of events, whatever... if I had the ability to save just 25 audio clips for posterity, and leave all others exposed to the ravages of time and the chemistry of whatever medium they were recorded on... which 25 would I save? Bear in mind, in this role I am acting partially on behalf of humanity, not just for my own self-interest... so songs or albums I just happen to really like shouldn't go on the list just because I like them. (That's a good thing, too... otherwise The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star" or the Violent Femmes' Greatest Hits might end up getting saved for all time while a real part of history gets lost forever.)
Some of these I included for their historical import. Others (particularly the sports ones) are getting saved by me because they're particularly evocative or meaningful to me personally (I am a man, and it is a well known "fact" that men are only allowed to cry over sporting scenes -- Rudy, Field of Deams, The Rookie, or Hoosiers, anyone? -- and I have included at least two in my list that to this day make me well up like a little kid with a skinned knee). But the beauty of spit like this is that it's open to interpretation by everybody... no two people would have the same list. You're going to read these and say, "What about (insert recording here)? You put (other sound) in, and you left off (first one)? Are you stupid or something?" To which I promise not to reply "Stupid is as stupid does," because I hate that movie. Rather, I'd just tell you to make your own list... because these are my sounds that I'd choose to save. I hereby grant you the magical power to save your own 25 sounds for all time.
So anyway, I'd planned on just listing 25 sounds with links to them where I could find them online. Then I realized that I am physically incapable of just listing something without writing some sort of a justifiation for why I included it (why do I always feel like I have to justify my decisions? Gotta ask about that one in therapy.) And that would make for one long-ass post. So I'll split them up a little.
Ordering these suckers is quite the challenge, by the way. Deciding a recording should go on the list is one thing. Deciding which one is more historical or more important than another? Not so easy. If you think it is, then make your own list of 25 recordings to save for posterity, and then try to value-judge them. Heh? I thought so. It's not so easy, is it?? So while the bottom 15 or so will be in a vague order, I think my top ten aren't going to be. They'll just be "top ten" recordings.
So with that... off we go to my list of 25 Recordings Worth Saving.
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