Interviews with music legends
Now, the Library of Congress has announced that Smith is donating this treasure trove of unedited recordings to the Library to be preserved and disseminated for generations of music lovers. The "who's who" of music legends that Smith recorded - comprising 238 hours of interviews - includes Artie Shaw, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Little Richard, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Sting, Tony Bennett, Joan Baez, James Taylor, Dick Clark, Tina Turner, B.B. King, Quincy Jones, Harry Belafonte and many others. The recordings have been digitized and will be accessible in the Library of Congress' reading room, with abridged recordings to be available online later this year.
In this excerpt from Smith's interview with Paul McCartney, the former Beatle talks about the reception he and his mates received in America: "It was like Heaven," he said - even the traffic cops in Florida were fans.
Paul McCartney on Beatlemania in the U.S.
Paul McCartney on "Sgt. Pepper"
Now 84, Smith said he wanted to make his library of oral histories available to scholars and the public, calling his interview subjects "truly part of the fabric of our cultural history."
Left: Smith with Mickey Hart of The Grateful Dead.
Bob Dylan on the Sixties
Bo Diddley on Muddy Waters
Little Richard on "Tutti Frutti"
Ellie Greenwich on the Brill Building
David Bowie on performing out of character
Peter Frampton on his early recordings
Dick Clark on booking "American Bandstand"
"Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music" (Grand Central)
By CBSNews.com senior editor David Morgan