​By The Numbers: The National Recording Registry

And now a listen to America's audio heritage . . . By The Numbers.

The Library of Congress this past week added 25 recordings to its National Recording Registry . . . boosting the total number to 425.

The recordings have all been judged to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," and they span the spectrum from the spoken word to music.

View our gallery and listen to audio samples from each of this year's 25 additions to the National Recording Registry

Everything from radio coverage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral in 1945 ... to Radiohead's album, "OK Computer," in 1997.

There's "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" from Johnny Mercer in 1944 ... and the distinctly negative view of working life to be found in "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955.

Joan Baez's first solo album from 1960 is on the list, as is The Doors' debut album in 1967.

Steve Martin's 1978 "A Wild and Crazy Guy" album gets a hearing, as do the wild and crazy creatures on the "Sesame Street: All-Time Platinum Favorites" album in 1995.

1964's "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" by The Righteous Brothers has lost none of its emotional punch, so far as the Library of Congress is concerned.

And the Library has made room on its shelves as well for Ben E. King's 1961 hit, "Stand By Me."

• Ben E. King: Library of Congress honor is "greatest moment of my life" ("CBS Evening News," 03/25/15)

Also added this year:

• Home Wax Cylinder Recordings, c.1890-1910, collected by the University of California, Santa Barbara Library;
• Ethnomusicology recordings from the Columbian Exposition at Chicago's 1893 World's Fair, from the Benjamin Ives Gilman Collection;
• "The Boys of the Lough"/"The Humours of Ennistymon" by Irish fiddler Michael Coleman (1922);
• "Black Snake Moan"/"Match Box Blues" by Texas blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson (1928);
• "Sorry, Wrong Number," starring Agnes Moorhead, from the radio series "Suspense," originally broadcast on May 25, 1943;
• The original cast album of Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate" (1949);
• A staged reading of "John Brown's Body," featuring Tyrone Power, Judith Anderson and Raymond Massey, directed by Charles Laughton (1953)'
• The jazz rendition of "My Funny Valentine" by The Gerry Mulligan Quartet, featuring Chet Baker (1953);
• "Mary Don't You Weep" (single) by The Swan Silvertones (1959)
• "New Orleans' Sweet Emma Barrett and her Preservation Hall Jazz Band" by Sweet Emma and her Preservation Hall Jazz Band (1964);
• Sly and the Family Stone's "Stand!" (1969), featuring "Everyday People";
• The direct-to-disc audiophile jazz recording "Lincoln Mayorga and Distinguished Colleagues" by Lincoln Mayorga (1968);
• "Songs of the Old Regular Baptists" (1997), featuring an Appalachian liturgical song style dating to the the 16th century;
• The 1998 album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," for which HIll became the first artist to win five Grammys in one night; and
• "Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman" by Joan Tower, performed by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop, conductor (1999).

In their many different ways, they all stand the test of time.

For more info:

• You can nominate recordings for the National Recording Registry here.
• View the full list of titles on the National Recordings Registry

Sample previous years' additions here:

• Gallery: Additions to National Recording Registry (04/02/14)
• Gallery: Additions to National Recording Registry (03/21/13)
• Gallery: Additions to National Recording Registry (05/23/12)
• Gallery: Additions to National Recording Registry (04/06/11)
• Gallery: Additions to National Recording Registry (06/12/09)