The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : They've Been Going In and Out of Style...But They're Guaranteed To Raise a Smile'

For anyone who has ever listened to those words above being sung, there can be no doubt why the Beatles' immortal "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was recently added to the National Recording Registry.

The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, album cover, 1967. Capitol Records.

Carl Van Vechten, photographer. [Portrait of Marian Anderson singing], 1940. Prints and Photographs Division. Anderson's 1936 recording of He's Got the Whole World in His Hands was named to the 2003 National Recording Registry.

"They've been going in and out of style, but they're guaranteed to raise a smile" ... these lyrics could apply to many of the works on the registry, which just announced its second list of recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and for other purposes" worthy of being preserved. Many of the recordings on the list, like "Sgt. Pepper" (1967) or "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book" (1956), have remained "in style" and popular since their release. Others, such as Vess Ossman's "Honolulu Cake Walk" (1898) and the steam locomotive recordings of O. Winston Link (1957-1977), you may have never heard, or even heard of. But like those titles on the companion National Film Registry, this is not a list of what is necessarily the most popular or the best, but those that are "significant" nonetheless, as specified in the legislation establishing the registry in the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000.

Interested in nominating a selection for the 2004 National Recording Registry? Familiarize yourself with the criteria for inclusion, then fill out the online nomination form. Your nomination must be submitted by July 15, 2004.

The Recorded Sound Reference Center provides access to the commercial and archival audio holdings of the Library of Congress. The collection dates from the late 1880s, the very beginning of commercial sound recording, and includes nearly two and one-half million discs, tapes, and cylinders of radio broadcasts, poetry readings, and speeches, in addition to nearly all forms of music. The holdings of the Library's Music Division complement the field recordings of the American Folklife Center and the moving-image collections in the Motion Picture and Television Reading Room.

A. The Beatles, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," album cover, 1967. Capitol Records. Image may not be reproduced.

B. Carl Van Vechten, photographer. [Portrait of Marian Anderson singing], 1940. Prints and Photographs Division. Anderson's 1936 recording of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" was named to the 2003 National Recording Registry. Reproduction information: Reproduction No.: LC-USZ62-103734 DLC (b&w film copy neg.); Call No.: LOT 12735, no. 46