NRR Project: WJSV complete broadcast day -- Sept. 21, 1939

 

NFR Project: WJSV – complete day of programming – Thursday, Sept. 21, 1939

17 hours

It was a typical early fall day in 1939. Not many extensive records exist of that day, save for this. The National Archives in Washington collaborated with station WJSV, a CBS network affiliate in Washington, D.C., to record an entire day of programming, from sign-on at 6 a.m. to sign-off at 1 a.m. the following day. The result is a fascinating document that, if listened to in its completeness, offers a recorded portrait of a day in mainstream radio during its golden age.

The ostensible reason this date was chosen for the recording the fact that it was the date on which there was an address of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a joint session of Congress. However, the recording was much more. It’s a look at a country not yet at war, but edging closer to it. It tells us what was popular, what people listened to as they went about their day. In the days before television, radio was how folks got their news and entertainment, flowing free over the airwaves.

The day opened with several hours of recorded music and news updates. The show was hosted by the avuncular Arthur Godfrey, not yet the famous broadcaster he was to become in 1945. Godfrey had a unique style, folksy, informal, and rambling, much different from the very proper announcers typical of the time. Godfrey’s relaxed approach was perfect for people just waking up and getting ready for work.

The music is the typical big-band content of the day (save for the interpolation of a Black-stereotype passage – casual racism was still the rule of thumb back in the day). At 8:30 a.m., the transcribed quiz show Certified Magic Carpet hit the air, hosted by the venerable broadcaster John Daly, normally heard only as a newsman. It demonstrates that announcers of the day were called upon to do different kinds of hosting.

Then came the soap operas, a profusion of 15-minute serial dramas so named because they were often sponsored by soap manufacturers. These turgid tales inhabited the air for hours, as their heroines faced all sorts of challenges both mundane and extraordinary. The soaps were punctuated with the occasional cooking show and something called the Women’s Home Companion, which advertised things for sale at a local department store.

Such well-known soaps as Myrt and Marge, Our Gal Sunday, Life Can Be Beautiful, and The Road of Life are represented here. They all sound the same, save for the offering at noon – The Goldbergs. This saga of a Jewish family in the big city was much more of a slice-of-life drama, and as such is much more listenable than the surrounding fare.

At 1:45 p.m. came Roosevelt’s speech. Its subject was the world war which was rapidly developing in Europe. America at the time had a strict neutrality policy, but the president wanted to change that. He proposed the repeal of an arms embargo mandated by Neutrality Act. Instead , he wanted the country to sell arms to the allied belligerents on a “cash and carry” basis, by which arms could be purchased up front, and then transported across the Atlantic by the warring nations, not by the United States itself. It is difficult to remember now that Roosevelt was strenuously opposed by a significant number of isolationists – people who didn’t want America to get involved in foreign wars. Roosevelt’s speech is eloquent, clear, and forceful – a remarkable contrast with the speeches of many politicians today. FDR was a great communicator, and this speech was no exception.

Roosevelt’s speech was followed by a partial address in French by Premier Deladier, who accused the Nazis of wanting to dismember France (which of course they did). More soaps and more music followed.

Finally, at 3:45 p.m. came the back end of a baseball game between the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators, which Cleveland won 6-3. The illustrious Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson called the play-by-play of the game. A bit more music and news followed, which led into a 15-minute sports report from Harry McTigue at 5:45 p.m.

At last we arrived at what would be later called “prime time.” First off was Amos ‘n’ Andy, a phenomenally popular daily 15-minute show that began in 1928 and lasted until 1960. Two white actors, Freeman Gosden and Charles Corell, portrayed two African-American friends in business together (they ran the Fresh Air Taxi Company in Chicago). Today’s audiences would of course reject the stereotyping that the show was based on, but at the time, white people imitating Black people was par for the course.

Despite the offensive grounding of the show, Gosden and Corell created two very likable and relatable characters whose misadventures captivated listeners. So popular the show was that movie houses would pause their screenings and play the show over loudspeakers for customers. My father remembers walking down the street as a child and hearing the show come out of every window on the block.

Following this was the 15-minute comedy The Parker Family, a typical situation comedy. Next up was Joe E. Brown with a half-hour variety and comedy program. Brown was a legendary performer. He literally ran away with the circus when he was 10, became an acrobat, entered vaudeville, and developed into a comic performer whose movies in the early 1930s made him one of the most bankable Hollywood stars. His big mouth and eager grin were familiar to almost everybody. (You may remember him best at Jack Lemmon’s foil in Some Like It Hot). The show is notable for including, once again, some casual racism, and the snappy tune “Are You Having Any Fun?”.

Next up was a quiz program, the Ask-It Basket. It’s an interesting listen. It is popularly thought that quiz shows came to the fore in radio after World War II, but here one is. It was followed by Strange As It Seems, a kind of “reality show” that outlined unusual and inspiring stories, and dramatizations of little-known historical incidents. Surprisingly, the show includes a segment on the great African-American agricultural scientist and inventor George Washington Carver – and includes an interview with Carver himself!

After a brief news break with the venerable broadcaster Elmer Davis came the Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour. Bowes was a theater manager with a flair for promotion, and he came up with the idea of creating a radio showcase for amateur talent to come on the air and compete for the votes of the listening audience. Singers, comedians, vocalist, impressionists, and even tap dancers appeared on the show. The most successful performers were contracted by the Major to perform live across the country.

Frank Sinatra appeared on the show as a member of the Hoboken Four Quartet, early in his career. Maria Callas, too, sang as a child on the show. Bowes would spin a “wheel of fortune” on air to determine who would perform next, and this generated his famous catchphrase “Round and round she goes, and where she stops, nobody knows.” The show was eagerly listened to, and thrived from 1934 until the Major’s death in 1946.

The Columbia Workshop succeeded the Amateur Hour. The Workshop was a unique program – it accommodated dramatic and experimental material that normally would not have made it on the air. The show was "sustained," meaning it carried no commercials and was presented as a public service. Poetry, music, original dramas, literary adaptations (Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater did a two-part adaptation of Hamlet for the show), and straight-up weirdness was all fare for the Workshop, which lasted from 1936 to 1943. Unfortunately, the piece recorded was an unexceptional drama, Now It’s Summer.

After this came Americans at Work, an educational program that interviewed people from all walks of life about their porfessions. The episode presented here involves auctioneers, and is somewhat interesting.

By now it was 10 p.m., and the station moved back into a lineup of music and news briefs. There was a rebroadcast of Roosevelt’s speech, followed by band remotes. In those days, orchestras were booked to perform at various venues, and part of their performances would be piped onto the airwaves live. Notable here is the appearance of Louis Prima’s orchestra. Prima would become famous after World War II for his riotous, comic stage work – here he is more subdued.

Finally, there was a brief summary of news, followed by a rendition of the National Anthem and sign-off. The cumulative effect of the day’s broadcast is to provide a portrait of a nation still undisturbed by war, amused by a network’s concoction of music, drama, news, and performance. Those who listen to isolated broadcasts of old-time radio shows would do well to give this broadcast a listen. There was a lot of mediocre material on the air, punctuated by fascinating bits that proved how engaging good radio could be.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: the premiere network broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry.

Notes from a Rockies fan.

 OK, let's look at the facts, Rockies fans. Worst record in team history: 119 losses. the worst run differential in BASEBALL HISTORY (-424), and the highest ERA since 1901 -- 6.64! Tied for most losses by a rotation: 93.

[Note to readers: I have been informed to my chagrin by a smart person that the Rockies don't have the worst run differential of all time, merely since 1899. It was the Cleveland Spiders who dun that, posting a stupendous -723.]

Per Colorado Rockies on SI, "As for the lineup, the Rockies' .237 batting average was the worst in team history, as was their .681 OPS. Their collective fWAR was minus-3.3 as a lineup, and they scored a franchise low 3.72 runs per game. This resulted in them being shutout a franchise record 17 times."

This is undeniably as bad as it can possibly get. It is historically awful. This obverse distinction is resonant; it will live forever in our minds.

To those of us who listened in, and went to games, this year, it was obvious that we had reached the nadir of our expectations. We came to the field not with the hope of victory, but with the weary resignation of the faithful.

I have been a stalwart Rockies fan since the beginning, and the Zephyrs before them, and the Bears before them. I remember the Sky Sox, ferchrissake.

And yet I still love them. In all of their Charlie Browniest, they played earnestly and poorly, stoically marching through sweep after sweep, sacrificing themselves to the vagaries of the game.

What is going on with this team? It has gone on for years now. It has not spurred a dearth of paying fans. We love the game, and we will come out and watch ourselves lose in a friendly and amicable Denver manner. There's not an abandonment there as there is in other cities.

Evolution is possible. You stick with your guys. But there is something seriously wrong, and we all need to address it. I appreciate the effort, and I am sorry you sucked so bad. We'll work on it in spring, I guess.

NRR Project: Dorothy Thompson: Commentary and Analysis of the European Situation for NBC Radio (August 23 – Sept. 6, 1939)

 

NFR Project: Dorothy Thompson: Commentary and Analysis of the European Situation for NBC Radio

Broadcast August 23 – Sept. 6, 1939

She was hard-working, expert journalist and commentator. She was so good, she was the first American journalist the Nazis kicked out after coming to power.

Dorothy Thompson is hardly remembered today, but her incisive understanding of the complexities of European politics between the world wars was exceptional. Nancy F. Cott's explanatory essay, which you can read here, gives a comprehensive look at the life of this journalist and broadcaster.

Fortunately, NBC decided to avail themselves of her services in the run-up to the beginning of World War II. In a series of broadcasts, she outlined for listeners what was happening in the rapidly developing situation on the other side of the water. These talks, while not celebrated today and difficult to even find, helped people understand the facts amid the pronouncements and posturing of the players involved.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: A complete day of radio broadcasting – Sept. 21, 1939.

NRR Project: Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial (April 9, 1939)

 

NFR Project: ‘Marian Anderson: the Lincoln Memorial Concert’

Recorded April 9, 1939

Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was one of the most gifted contraltos of the 20^th century. Her only problem – she was Black.

Fighting prejudice every step of the way, she trained with various voice teachers and finally made an impact with a recital held with the New York Philharmonic on Aug. 26, 1925. People loved her rich, velvety voice, which expressed itself with precision and grace. However, because of her skin color, many times she could not get access to traditional classical-music venues in America.

So she went to Europe to study and perform. There she became incredibly popular, building a reputation, and notably establishing a friendship with the composer Sibelius. Her increased reputation led to more concert appearances in the U.S., but again she had problems being accommodated in hotels and restaurants due merely to her skin color.

In 1939, she attempted to give a concert at Washington, D.C.’s Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall, which had a whites-only policy. She was denied. She then tried to secure the use of the auditorium of D.C.’s Central High School – and was again turned down, this time by the District of Columbia Board of Education. Thousands of her supporters were pissed, and a coalition of Black activists got to work.

Finally, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes was convinced to stage her recital on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. This they did on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. The open-air concert was attended by more than 75,000 people, and was carried on NBC radio. “Genius, like Justice, is blind,” declared Ickes.

Anderson sang her heart out. She sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” the aria “O mio Fernando” from Donizetti’s “La Favorita”, and Schubert’s “Ave Maria.” After a brief intermission, she sang three spirituals, “Gospel Train,” “Travelin’”, and “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” She was applauded frenetically. For once, a Black artist stood up to the racists that controlled the American culture, and triumphed over them with a concert heard by millions.

She continued her career. She sang for the troops during World War II and the Korean War. She headlined on live TV on June 15, 1953, broadcast on both NBC and CBS. Finally, on January 7, 1955, she became the first Black singer to appear on the stage at the Metropolitan Opera. She continued to work extensively until her retirement form singing in 1965.

Only excerpts of her concert were released on newsreel film at the time, but the entire performance was recorded on film and archived. Today we can see and hear her thrilling performance, and wonder now what kind of society made it so hard for her to shine her light for everyone.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Dorothy Thompson: Commentary and Analysis of the European Situation for NBC Radio.

NRR Project: 'Strange Fruit' (1939)

 

‘Strange Fruit’

Music and lyrics by Abel Meeropol

Performed by Billie Holiday

Recorded 1939

3:12

 

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

 

Pastoral scene of the gallant South

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

 

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop”

Strange Fruit was originally a poem, composed in 1937, penned in outrage over the lynching of Black people in the South, which was endemic in America during the early part of the 20^th century. Its author sought people to set the poem to music, but was unsuccessful. Finally, the poet himself (now under the name of Lewis Allan) made a song out of it. A few New York singers, most notably Laura Duncan, performed the song, most notably at Madison Square Garden.

Billie Holiday heard the song and wanted to record it; her label, Columbia, declined. However, it gave her permission to record the song with another label. She did – and the recording sold more a million copies, making it the biggest-selling recording of her career. Holiday feared reprisals over her performance of it, but did it anyway. It was usually performed at the end of her appearances, with no encore.

This powerful denunciation of racial violence was named the Best Song of the Century.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Marian Anderson performs at the Lincoln Memorial.

NRR Project: 'Rose Room' (1939)

 

‘Rose Room’

Music by Art Hickman, Lyrics by Harry Williams

Performed by the Benny Goodman Sextet with Charlie Christian

Recorded Oct. 2, 1939

2:45

The guitar was not thought of initially as a natural jazz instrument. The sound was too soft to compete with the brass and drums of the big bands. Therefore, it was used primarily as a rhythm instrument.

It took Charlie Christian and the invention of the electric guitar to change that. Utilizing an amplifier, the electric guitarist could make himself heard above the surrounding musicians. However, it took a musician of Christian’s genius to make the instrument essential.

Christian grew up in Texas, the son of musicians. He developed his skills on the electric guitar and soon gained a reputation for his work. Record producer John Hammond encouraged him to try out with Benny Goodman. Goodman was reluctant to try him. However, he gave him a chance at a date in a Los Angeles restaurant. Goodman had his band play “Rose Room,” which fortunately Christian knew inside and out. The song went on for 45 minutes, with Christian improvising an incredible 20 choruses. He was hired.

Christian became part of Goodman’s fabled sextette and performed extensively until his death in 1942. His supple single-note style of play fit in perfectly with the sound Goodman was trying to produce. Before Christian’s demise, he is said to have coined the phrase “bebop” for the new and challenging type of jazz he was pioneering with a few other musicians in L.A.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Billie Holliday sings ‘Strange Fruit.’

NRR Project: 'Peter and the Wolf' (1939)

 

Peter and the Wolf

Composed by Sergei Prokofiev

Performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzsky, conductor

Richard Hale, narrator

Recorded 1939

24:24

Holy cow! I was asked by the Library of Congress to write about this piece, which I did in 2019. My explanatory essay sits at the National Recording Registry website, which you can read here.

The official term for music that educates is pedagogic music, and most of it is as awful as that sounds. Official culture in every society seeks to inculcate its values, moral and aesthetic, in each of its young generations, and many a child has been bored to tears by something earnest and condescending it is thought they “should” like. It’s a rare piece of music that remains as fresh and persuasive as Peter and the Wolf.

In classical music, there are a number of designated “kid-friendly” pieces that serve as gateways to Western art music, the symphonic world. Saint-Saen’s Carnival of the Animals, Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. There are inadvertently famous classical riffs as well, and some children graduate into a love of the classical music they only heard snatches of. The Lone Ranger’s signature music is eventually understood as the overture to Rossini’s opera, Giullaume Tell, and the grand three-note opening theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey becomes Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra (especially as taught by kid-friendly composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein at one of his televised Young People’s Concerts).

One of the most successful of these compositions is Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, a “symphonic fairy tale for children” written in the Soviet Union but first recorded in America, by Serge Koussevitzsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Since its premiere, it’s been recorded more than 400 times, in a dozen languages.

The young and enterprising Prokofiev left the fledgling Soviet Union in May, 1918; after many successes, he returned permanently in 1936. There, educator Natalya Sats asked him to write a piece that would teach instruments of the orchestra to children, for her Central Children’s Theatre.

The official culture of the day in the USSR was socialist realism, a style that featured idealistic depictions of the common man, depictions that were mandated, reviewed, critiqued, and censored by the central government. A useful work of art taught a moral lesson and reinforced Soviet values. For a libretto, Prokofiev started with a rhyming narrative by popular Soviet children’s writer Antonina Sakonyskaya, about a Young Pioneer (the Soviet equivalent of a Boy Scout) challenging an adult mired in reactionary, pre-Revolutionary thinking.

Dissatisfied, Prokofiev tossed the original poem aside and wrote his own story in prose. Turning to the music, he completed the piano score in less than a week, and the orchestration in another. Peter and the Wolf debuted on May 2, 1936 at a children’s concert by the Moscow Philharmonic. The American premiere took place in Boston in March, 1938, due to the presence there of Koussevitzsky.

Serge Koussevitzsky was another Russian, but one who chose life in the West after the Russian Revolution. A respected bassist and composer, his financial situation enabled him to advance his career by doing such things as hiring the Berlin Philharmonic for his conducting debut and forming a dominating music-publishing company that printed the work of composers such as Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and . . . Prokofiev. Koussevitzsky led the ensemble during a period of artistic greatness. (The primary performance space at the BSO’s legendary summer concert venue Tanglewood bears the name of the Koussevitzsky Music Shed.)

According to Koussevitzsky biographer Moses Smith, “Prokofiev appeared as a soloist and guest conductor for a program of his own music which included ‘Peter and the Wolf’ in its first American performance. In a pre-concert interview with newspapermen he had pointedly alluded to the bad reception Boston had previously accorded his more ‘serious’ works, which he was accordingly omitting from the forthcoming program.” Prokofiev biographer Simon Morrison adds, “Prokofiev informed a Time magazine reporter that because audiences in Boston could not grasp his ‘serious music,’ he was obliged to pander to them with ‘simple things.’”

Despite the composer’s deprecating comments, the simplicity of the composition is not to be confused with a lack of quality. It’s the story of young Peter, who, defying his Grandfather’s words of warning, defeats and captures a hungry wolf, with the aid of a few animal friends. Each character has a dedicated instrument and a distinct theme — what Wagnerians would call a leitmotif. Peter is voiced by the strings, and there is his grumpy Grandfather (bassoon), a bird (flute), a duck (oboe), a cat (clarinet), and the wolf himself (French horns). With precision and economy, Prokofiev sketches out the characters thematically as he moves the story along.

The role of the Narrator in the performance is key, and the debut recording features Richard Hale as such. The respected baritone was a frequent concert-hall performer; in later years he turned to character acting in films, becoming a familiar face in fare such as To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Hale gives the reading a directness and emotional force absent in many other renditions of the role. In Hale’s performance, the story is thrilling and vital.

After the premiere in Boston, Prokofiev toured America in 1938. He made a point of going to Hollywood and playing Peter and the Wolf for Walt Disney, in the hopes he would craft an animated film based on the score. Disney nearly added a Peter and the Wolf segment to his animated/classical music anthology Fantasia (1940), but eventually produced it as a segment of the anthology Make Mine Music in 1946.

The premiere recording exists as a six-part set of 78-rpm records bound together (these bulky, heavy folders gave us the phrase “record album”). The initial release was wildly popular, and soon recording followed recording, sporting narrators as varied as Boris Karloff, David Bowie, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Alice Cooper. Peter and the Wolf is popular — and sturdy — enough to endure hundreds of renditions.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Charlie Christian plays ‘Rose Room.’

 

SOURCES

 

Koussevitzsky

Moses Smith

Muriwai Books

2017 (1947)

 

Serge Koussevitzsky

Hugo Leichtentritt

Harvard University Press

1946

 

The People’s Artist: Prokofiev’s Soviet Years

Simon Morrison

Oxford University Press

2009

 

 

NRR Project: 'Over the Rainbow' (1939)

 

NRR Project: ‘Over the Rainbow’

Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg

Performed by Judy Garland with Victor Young and his Orchestra

Recorded July 1939

2:47

One of the greatest American songs was crafted for the groundbreaking Technicolor fantasy film The Wizard of Oz in 1939. It was written expressly for Judy Garland to sing as Dorothy in the sepia-toned prologue to the movie, set in Kansas. There, amid her colorless, ramshackle environment, Dorothy sings of wanting to be somewhere else, somewhere “the dreams that you dream really do come true.”

First, read Walter Limler’s excellent explanatory essay here. It breaks down just how difficult it was for composer Harold Arlen to come up with the music for this song. He was adept at crafting comic songs, but this one needed to be heartfelt. (In musicals, this type of song is often referred to as a “wants” song, one in which the lead character expresses longing for change.)

The movie was a hit, and so was the song. It became Judy Garland’s theme song (she was only 16 when she first recorded it), and is one of the most familiar tunes of all time.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time:‘Peter and the Wolf.’

NRR Project: 'O Que e que a Bahiana tem’ (1939)

 

NRR Project: ‘O Que e que a Bahiana tem’

Performed by Carmen Miranda and Bando de Lua

Recorded December 1939

3:17

Carmen Miranda (1909-1955) persists in our collective imagination as “the lady in the tutti-frutti hat,” the exuberant Brazilian songstress whose outrageous outfits were her trademark.

There are two excellent explanatory essays on her at the National Recording Registry – one byKathyrn Bishop-Sanchez, here; and one by Cary O’Dell, here. I can only add a bit myself.

She released her first album in 1930. She was already popular in Brazil when she recorded this song in 1938. It’s from her fifth film, Banana di Terra. The song took off and she recorded it in New York in December of that year.

She was an immediate hit. She dressed in an approximation of the wardrobe of the Bahia women – Brazilian peasant-class ladies who dressed extravagantly. She wears bright colors, enormous jewelry, and fantastic headgear, usually featuring fruit and flowers.

“O Que e que a Bahiana tem” and other numbers she performed in the New York show Streets of Paris in 1939. Soon she was seen on the screen, usually filmed in New York due to her theatrical commitments. She was dubbed the Queen of Samba.

In 1940 she did her first American movie, Down Argentine Way. She is always presented as a cliché Other, a weird amalgam of entertaining traits combined with an excessive visual style. She made 13 films in all.

As derided as she might be for her look, her musicianship was excellent and as distinctive as the later Yma Sumac, another Latin phenomenon. She did help immensely to inject Latin music into the American mainstream.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time:‘Over the Rainbow.’

NRR Project: The John and Ruby Lomax Southern States Recording Trip

 

NRR Project: The John and Ruby Lomax Southern States Recording Trip

Recorded March 31 – June 14, 1939

350 performances

The most epic journey in American roots music began March 31, 1939. Seventy-two-year-old John Lomax and his wife Ruby Terrill, 53, set out on an expedition into the heart of the American soul, as expressed through music.

They recorded everything and everyone. They recorded English and Spanish, all faiths, all colors. According to Matthew Barton and the National Recording Registry from which you read here, “the Lomaxes captured a wide range of traditional musical styles in English and Spanish, including ballads, blues, children's songs, cowboy songs, fiddle tunes, field hollers, lullabies, play-party songs, religious dramas, spirituals, and work songs, as well as interviews with the performers.”

In fact, just cut to Barton’s essay here. Just read it. It’s really good!

I can only add that, for the lover of American music, this collection of musical pieces, all fully accessible online, is the mother load of content. In only 10 weeks, the Lomaxes found and captured hundreds of bits of oral culture that could never be accessed today. The wealth of what they collected is still impacting scholars and musicmakers today.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Carmen Miranda sings ‘O Que e que a Bahiana tem’.

NRR Project: 'In the Mood' (1940)

 

NRR Project: ‘In the Mood’

Composed by Joe Garland and Andy Razaf

Performed by the Glenn Miller and his Orchestra

Recorded Aug. 1, 1939

3:09

I must first point to the extremely learned essay on this piece from Dennis M. Spragg, which you can read here. (He is the senior consultant for the Glenn Miller Archives at the University of Colorado Boulder.) Like any great detective, he searches for the origin of the piece and rings all the changes on it down to the date of its incredible success.

Because the first few bars of the song are instantly identifiable, and in fact evoke an entire period in American history – the span of big-band music, which thrived from the mid-1930s to the end of the Second World War in 1945. This iconic song, in both its instrumental and vocal renditions, bring back memories of grandparents and great-grandparents, all those who survived the Depression and WWII – those dubbed the Greatest Generation.

The story of “In the Mood” is one of the long evolution of a riff, that began in 1925. Jazz is uniquely conducive to the re-formation of music that already exists, so it didn’t take long for different artists and ensembles to adapt, transform, and perfect it. Joe Garland copyrighted his version in 1938. Finally, in 1939 Glenn Miller purchased the tune from Garland. Miller rearranged the number with Eddie Durham, and voila – “In the Mood” crystalized into its eternal form.

It's swinging, instantly memorable, a smoothly orchestrated syncopation that invites the listener to dance. It’s one of those perfect songs, one that deserves it place in the collective consciousness.

Just one caveat -- the National Recording Registry notes that the recording is “seamless and precise.” This is one quality of Miller’s style that can be interpreted in a negative way. All of Miller’s work is based on the flawless and modulated performance of the text as written. He was an auteur, he, like Duke Ellington, could shape exactly the sound he wanted to hear. And his taste was excellent.

This is different approach than that taken by the relatively looser bandleaders Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, not to mention the real swingers such as Count Basie and Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy, Is Miller, then more mechanical, more soulless, more vanilla, more . . . wholesome?

It would mark the high point of the general American public’s love of jazz. It would have been fascinating to hear his development after the war years, but his untimely death in 1944 precludes us from knowing other than what became a string of well-machined popular hits for him and his outfit.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: the John and Ruby Lomax Southern States Recording Trip.

NRR Project: 'If I Didn't Care' (1939)

 

NRR Project: ‘If I Didn’t Care’

Composed by Jack Lawrence

Performed by the Ink Spots

Recorded 1939

3:09

First of all, read Andrew Hickey’s excellent explanatory essay here. I can only echo his words.

The Ink Spots were a vocal quartet much in the style of the already popular Mills Brothers, although initially they essayed more comic material. They formed in 1934, and worked steadily at all manner of gigs until they made a huge hit of “If I Didn’t Care,” which sold an amazing 19 million copies.

The song runs on highs and lows – first, the soaring tenor of Bill Kenny, followed by a spoken reprise of the lyrics by bass Hoppy Jones, then another repetition of the opening. This style was immediately co-opted by many other groups, but nothing could compare to the originals. It’s a sweet and yearning tune that still enchants decades later.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: ‘In the Mood.’

NRR Project: 'Body and Soul' (1939)

 

NRR Project: ‘Body and Soul’

Composed by Johnny Green, lyrics by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton

Performed by Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra

Recorded Oct. 11, 1939

3:02

 

First of all, I could not do better than the fantastic essay written by Stephen Rush for the National Recording Registry. Here it is, and it explicates the importance of this recording quite wonderfully.

Hawkins (1904-1969), originally from Missouri, gravitated to New York in the early 1920s. He is credited as one of the great jazz soloists, in league with Louis Armstrong and Lester Young. Here he improvises from the chord structure of the piece, largely ignoring the melody – a trend in music that would eventually develop into the bebop approach. By taking apart the song and riffing on its chord changes, he elevated the solo jazz instrument as an interpretive outlet for musicians who wanted to move past the more conservative playing of the 1920s and 1930s.

In other words, the piece is beautiful and deserves thoughtful listening.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: the Inkspots do ‘If I Didn’t Care’.

NRR Project: Casals plays the Bach Cello Suites

 

NRR Project: The Six Cello Suites

Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

Performed by Pablo Casals

Recorded 1936, 1938, 1939

2 hr. 10 min.

This recording is unprecedented. The Bach Cello Suites are six pieces, each consisting of six movements, starting with a theme and then developing into movements based on various dance styles of his day. Like all of Bach’s work, the Suites are both mathematically precise and deeply emotional, raging from deep sadness to pure joy.

Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was born in Spain to a musical father. A child prodigy, Casals had mastered many instruments before choosing to devote himself to the cello. When he was 13, he found the music for the Suites in a second-hand music shop in Barcelona. For he next 13 years, he practiced the Suites daily. Finally, he began to perform the Suites in public.

Soon his reputation grew. He won awards; he played for Queen Victoria; he amassed an international reputation. However, it wasn’t until the Spanish Civil War and World War II uprooted him and sent him to travel in the Western countries that he felt ready to record the suites. Over several sessions in different cities, he accumulated a complete recording of all six pieces.

There is a lack of indication of emphasis in Bach’s manuscript, which leaves the interpretation up to the individual performer. Casals adopts a romantic approach to the music, bowing aggressively and passionately. The result is a revelatory experience, one that combines supreme technical competence with deep feeling. To sit down and really listen to the music is an experience that transports the listener to a higher plane. Casals took a bravura piece for solo instrument and made it into a personal statement that still resounds today. Even after countless subsequent recordings, his original take on the Cello Suites stands monumentally above them.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Coleman Hawkins plays Body and Soul.

NRR Project: Kate Smith sings 'God Bless America' (Nov. 11, 1938)

 

NRR Project: ‘God Bless America’

Composed by Irving Berlin

Sung by Kate Smith

Broadcast Nov. 11, 1938

4:13

Kate Smith (1907-1986) was one of the 20^th Century’s first entertainment stars, who hosted a radio variety show, from the beginning of network radio in the late ‘20s, for many decades. She was not only a beloved singer in her own right; she broke new acts onto the scene, like Abbott and Costello, Henny Youngman, and what would become The Aldrich Family.

She endured much negative attention for her weight, initially; she describes herself as weeping after particular performances in which she felt humiliated. However, through sheer talent and application, she won everyone over with some sweet and a few hot jazz numbers. Her signature song: “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain.”

She was searching for a patriotic song to premiere over the air. She turned to America’s greatest songsmith, Irving Berlin, for a tune. Berlin reached into his pile of unused tunes and resurrected one from a 1918 military-themed review – “God Bless America.” Smith premiered it on Nov. 11 – what used to be referred to as Armistice Day – 1940.

In her excellent explanatory essay, which you can read here, Sheryl Kaskowitz analyzes the evolution of the song, especially in the fact of the usual removal of the opening verse, which is a bit dark and rueful, and refers to relief at being far from European conflicts. Smith dropped the opening and gave us the memorable chorus, an optimistic, marching beat that carries listeners along, that convinces them to sing along. It’s a very powerful song. But then again, Berlin was a genius.

This would become known as Smith’s other signature songs, one she would sing thousands of times in her career. It was “her” song. Not too shabby.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Pablo Casals plays Bach’s six Cello Suites.

Toscanini conducts Barber's Adagio for Strings (Nov. 5, 1938)

  

NRR Project: ‘Adagio for Strings’

Composed by Samuel Barber

Performed by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony

Broadcast Nov. 5, 1938

7:36

I could not do better than Barbara Heyman’s excellent essay on the piece, which you can readhere.

I can only add that the piece, a gentle ethereal rising of chords in the string section, slow and solemn, has always identified itself in my mind with death. It began with the media around the killing of John F. Kennedy, then cropped up consistently in times of mourning. It is deeply moving the first few times you hear it, but it has become oppressive through repetition.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Kate Smith sings God Bless America.

NRR Project: 'The War of the Worlds' panic -- Oct 30, 1938

 

NRR Project: ‘The War of the Worlds’

The Mercury Theatre on the Air

Broadcast Oct. 30, 1938

60 min.

The power of radio on the human mind was never so definitively demonstrated than on the night of Oct. 30, 1938. On that night, millions of people across America became convinced that Martians were attacking Earth.

Let’s back up a bit. Orson Welles (1915-1985) was a young genius who, at the unlikely age of 16, became a respected player in theater. He moved into radio, becoming the original voice of The Shadow, a popular thriller series. He mounted numerous plays, which led to him being selected to join the Federal Theatre Project, a government-subsidized arts program meant to offer employment to thousands of underemployed actors and technicians.

In 1936, Welles opened his “voodoo Macbeth” in New York, an adaptation of the play with an all-Black ensemble, which proved a huge success. Welles mounted more plays, growing in fme and reputation. In 1937, he staged a seven-part radio adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables on CBS, which proved to be a hit also. At this early stage in his career, everything he did was golden.

The success of his radio project led him to form, with producer John Houseman, the Mercury Theatre on the Air, a network-sustained hour-long program that adapted key works of literature and dramaturgy. Their first broadcast was Dracula, on July 11, 1938 on CBS.

Welles was a master of conveying meaning and feeling through sound alone. He and his hard-working crew of regulars – including Everett Sloane, Ray Collins, Joseph Cotton, and Agnes Moorehead – whipped up an engaging and ambitious broadcast, week after week. They were competing against the very popular Chase and Sanborn Hour, starring ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, which played on NBC at the same time. It was their decision to mount H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds on Halloween Eve, 1938, that made them famous – or rather, infamous – overnight.

The writer assigned to the script, Howard Koch, found the adaptation frustrating. How could he convincingly portray an invasion of Earth by the inhabitants of Mars in a realistic and frightening way? Koch, assistant Anne Froelich, Houseman, and associate producer Paul Stewart hammered away at the script desperately, up against a strict deadline. Finally, they hit on setting the invasion in America instead of England, as it was in Wells’ novel, and to make it sound like the invasion was unfolding in real time, with fake news bulletins and eyewitness accounts of the mayhem.

That night, many listeners, having heard Bergen and McCarthy do their opening comedy routine, twiddled the dial to CBS and tuned in to what sounded like a genuine invasion. People panicked. The CBS switchboard lit up with alarmed calls. Thousands hit the streets, or drove frantically away from the supposed origin of the attack – Grover’s Mill, New Jersey.

The first 40 minutes of the program, which had no advertising to interrupt it, continued to sketch scenes of horror as the Martians rapidly took over the planet. At the 40-minute mark, the show’s announcer reminded the audience that it was listening to an adaptation of The War of the Worlds. (A more conventionally narrated conclusion took place after the announcement.) By then it was too late. An incensed crowd of police and reporters jammed the halls of CBS, looking for Welles and company. A shocked and shamefaced Welles emerged from the broadcast studio and apologized for the convincing deception.

The panic was the top story in all the newspapers of the day. Commentators inveighed against Welles. He thought his career was over.

Surprisingly, after a few weeks of world-wide attention, The Mercury Theatre on the Air got a sponsor and became the well-regarded Campbell Playhouse, continuing to put out radio adaptations for another two years. Welles was picked up by Hollywood, and proceeded to make Citizen Kane.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Barber’s Adagio for Strings.

NRR Project: Abbott and Costello, "Who's on First?" routine -- Oct. 6, 1938

 

NRR Project: ‘Who’s on First?’ routine

Performers: Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

Broadcast Oct. 6, 1938

6 min.

From the late 1930s through the mid-‘50’s, the top comedy duo in America was Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Bud was the tall, thin straight man; Lou was the short, fat laugh-getter. Their lightning-fast routines used word confusion and misdirection to stun audiences into laughter.

They worked together first in vaudeville and burlesque houses; they got their big break on the radio show The Kate Smith Hour on Feb. 3, 1938. They first performed their “Who’s on First? bit on March 24, 1938. (The first surviving recording of this bit took place on Oct. 6, 1938.) Immensely and immediately popular, the duo got their own 30-minute summer replacement show for Fred Allen in 1940. After that, they joined The Chase and Sanborn Hour in 1941, and landed their own show again in 1942.

Meanwhile, they started making movies as well. From 1940 through 1956, they made no less than 35 films, approximately three a year. They were the top box-office draw for may of those years. When television came along, they did that too, from 1952 through 1954. They were finally dethroned as a comedy duo by up-and-comers Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

“Who’s on First?” is a classic sketch, definitely the best-known of their bits and one of the classic comedy bits of all time. It revolves around baseball players’ nicknames. Bud announces that on his team are Who, on first; What, on second, and I Don’t Know on third. “Who’s on first?” asks Lou. “Yes,” answers Bud. “Look, all I want to know is what’s the guy’s name on first,” says Lou. “What’s on second,” answers Bud. “I don’t know!” says Lou. “Third base,” answers Bud.

And things go haywire from there. Lou gets more and more worked up, at one point saying, “I’ll break your arm if you say who’s on first again!” he hollers. Eventually, Lou gives up. “I don’t care,” he proclaims. “Oh,” replies Bud, “that’s out shortstop!”

The routine itself is fairly old; so old, in fact, that it was held in the public domain until the boys copyrighted it in 1944. They did the routine hundreds, if not thousands, of times – live, on the radio, on film, and on TV. It became their signature routine.

The sketch is so well-known that it plays in perpetuity at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: The War of the Worlds.

NRR Project: Joe Louis-Max Schmeling prizefight -- June 22, 1938

 

NRR Project: The Joe Louis-Max Schmeling fight

Announcer: Clem McCarthy

Broadcast June 22, 1938

2:04

This recording is important not for its inherent memorability – it is after all just the record of a short boxing match. What makes it significant is the meaning placed onto the fight by virtue of its contestants – a Black American and a white German, on the eve of World War II.

Joe Louis, “the Brown Bomber,” was a contender for the heavyweight boxing crown when he faced Schmeling in 1936. Schmeling defeated him in 12 rounds. Louis wanted a rematch, and he became a prized opponent after winning the heavyweight championship against Jim Braddock. Schmeling wanted to defeat him and take the title.

The camps in opposition were fervid. The entire African American community, of course, supported Louis, as did defenders of democracy. The Nazis and the racists sided with Schmeling. The contest was to prove who was superior – the Black man or the white man.

The bout was held at a sold-out Yankee Stadium. It is estimated that 70 million Americans tuned in the to fight on the radio. Behind the mike was the veteran sports announcer Clem McCarthy. Louis was in fine shape, and battered the poor Schmeling incessantly from the word go. Finally, with only a couple of minutes gone in the first round, Schmeling surrendered. Louis was heavyweight champion of the world by technical knockout.

The country exploded with glee. Hitler’s theories of white racial superiority were disproved emphatically. Joe Louis successfully defended his title 25 times after that, remaining heavyweight champion until 1949, the longest reign in heavyweight history. Schemling got drafted into the German army.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Who’s on First?

NRR Project: Korngold's score for 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' (1938)

 

NRR Project: ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’

Composed by Eric Wolfgang Korngold

Performed by Eric Wolfgang Korngold and the Warner Brothers Studio Orchestra

Narrated by Basil Rathbone

Broadcast May 11, 1938

33 min.

Eric Wolfgang Korngold’s score for the 1938 movie The Adventures of Robin Hood is a classic, right up there with other key scores of the era such as Max Steiner’s for King Kong (1933) and Franz Waxman’s for The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Korngold had already proved himself as a classical composer with works such as his magnificent 1920 opera, Die tote stadt. Escaping the Nazis, he moved to Hollywood in 1934 and began composing for films.

He referred to his Robin Hood score as an “opera without music,” and it certainly bears relation to the genre with its numerous themes, which are developed much in the same way as operatic ones. Warner Brothers knew they had a gem of a score on their hands, and they moved to utilize it to promote the film. Three days before the movie’s premiere, on May 11, 1938, they broadcast a special rendition of excerpts of the score, bridged by narration from actor Basil Rathbone, on NBC radio live.

The result was an electrifying rendition of the music, listened to by millions. It further legitimized the film score as an art form. And, at that year's Oscars, Korngold won the prize for Best Original Score. The score (or rather a suite from it) is still performed by major orchestras. The music stands on its own as a marvelous piece of work.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: the Joe Louis-Max Schmeling fight.

NRR Project: Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall concert -- Jan. 16, 1938

 

NRR Project: ‘Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert’

Performed by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra

Recorded Jan. 16, 1938

2 hours, 2 minutes

Wow. Some recordings have that special quality that rewards repeated listenings. These are the classics. And Benny Goodman’ Carnegie Hall concert is one of those, and absolute classic that documents the moment jazz shed its disreputable and superficial connotations and came into its own as an art form.

Nobody knew how a jazz concert in the hallowed precincts of Carnegie Hall would be received by the pubic. Jazz was perceived as primarily a vehicle for dance music (save for those early jazz connoisseurs who were already hip). To everyone’s surprise, the concert sold out quickly – extra chairs were placed on stage to accommodate even more listeners.

Goodman was ready to deliver the goods. A perfectionist, he rehearsed his band at the venue itself until it was pitch-perfect. And what a lineup of players! Drummer Gene Krupa and trumpeter Harry James were part of the band. Also present were pianist Teddy Wilson and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. Significantly, these last two musicians were Black – and Goodman insisted on their participation, breaking the color line in music for all time.

Remarkably, Goodman treated the concert as a teaching opportunity. Rather than just play his hits, he put in a four-song section that outlined the history of jazz. He included numbers by Count Basie and Duke Ellington, and he welcomed some of their players into the concert as well. Count Basie is here, and so is Cootie Williams. Goodman inserted a jam session on “Honeysuckle Rose” that included the great tenor sax legend Lester Yong, alto sax man Johnny Hodges, and trumpeter Buck Clayton. This inclusive, generous approach meant that the enthusiastic audience would get a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Goodman breaks down his band into a small trio and quartet for some of the songs. The great vocalist Martha Tilton gets a couple of numbers. You can actually hear the musicians get warmed up and looser as the concert progresses. Then the band comes together again for an epic rendition of “Sing, Sing, Sing,” Goodman’s signature piece. A couple of encores later, the enthusiastic crowd is sent home.

The concert cemented the idea that jazz was a legitimate, complex, and powerful art form. For anyone who wants to understand what jazz is all about, this recording is indispensable. Man, could they swing!

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Korngold’s ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ score.

NRR Project: 'When You Wish Upon a Star' (1938)

 

NRR Project: ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’

Music by Leigh Harline; lyrics by Ned Washington

Recorded by Ciff ‘Ukulele Ike’ Edwards and the Disney Studio Chorus

Recorded 1938

3:15

Not much to say about this one. Read James M. Bohn’s excellent essay here, which outlines the song’s history and analyzes its components.

It’s a sentimental ballad, from the animated Disney feature Pinocchio (1940). It’s sung by the character of Jiminy Cricket, who serves as the puppet-boy’s conscience. The insect is voiced by Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards, by that time a well-loved vaudeville tenor who accompanied himself, of course, on the ukulele.

It won the Oscar for best song, and has become the theme song of the Disney corporation. It asserts that wishing can make dreams come true. If you are sentimental, this song is right up your alley. If not . . . then it is tolerable.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Benny Goodman’s Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert.

NRR Project: 'When the Saints Go Marching In' (1938)

 

NRR Project: ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’

Traditional

Recorded by Louis Armstrong & his Orchestra

Recorded 1938

2:41

First, read Ricky Riccardi’s excellent essay on the song here. I have but little to add to it.

“When the Saints Go Marching In” was originally a hymn, sung slowly and reverently. However, in New Orleans, where Louis Armstrong grew up, the song was played with a bouncier, more upbeat rhythm as the band accompanying a funeral would play it on its way back from the cemetery. This is the version Armstrong wanted to record.

He met with resistance. In 1931, his then-label dissuaded him from recording it. Finally, under a new label, Decca, he got a chance to set it down on shellac. The recording was released timidly, but immediately became a major seller. Its infectious energy, and the jubilation behind the song is palpable. It is a joyously positive statement.

Many people didn’t feel that way about it. Sixty churches protested against a hymn being rendered in jazz style; they didn’t feel that the secular and the sacred should be mixed so. However, Armstrong loved the song and played it consistently to the end of his career.

Since then, multiple artists have made the transition from gospel to jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock, including Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Sly Stone. Gospel music itself has become more swinging and infectious, too. It seems that the marriage of the sacred and the secular is a successful one.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: When You Wish Upon A Star.

NRR Project: Bruno Walter conducts Mahler's Ninth Symphony (1938)

 

NRR Project: Symphony No. 9

Composed by Gustav Mahler

Recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Conducted by Bruno Walter

Recorded Jan. 16, 1938

71 min.

This recording of Mahler’s final completed symphony is significant in that it was one of the last times Jewish musicians were permitted to play in what was soon to be Nazi-controlled Austria.

The conductor, Bruno Walter, was a protégé of Mahler’s, and conducted the premiere of Symphony No. 9 on June 26, 1912, approximately one year after Mahler’s death. The artistic director of the HMV recording outfit, Fred Gaisberg, had a vision of recording the symphony with the same orchestra, the same conductor, and the same venue as at its premiere. This he accomplished after many rehearsals and much tricky work with the recording devices.

The result is an enthusiastic and ethereal journey through Mahler’s concluding musical thoughts. Walter directs with precision wedded to passion, producing an extraordinary recording that is still held up as a supreme example of the recording art almost a century after its creation.

The Nazis invaded Austria shortly after this recording was made, 13 Jewish musicians were dismissed from the orchestra. Walter, a Jew himself, went into exile. Mahler’s music, deemed “Jewish” (Mahler, born Jewish, converted to Catholicism in 1897), was forbidden by the Third Reich. It would take the end of World War II to restore Mahler and Walter to the public eye in Germany. And the terminated musicians? Many were killed in the Holocaust.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Louis Armstrong records When the Saints Go Marching In.