Barbra Streisand, Harry Richman Enter National Recording Registry
Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
By Talya Zax March 29, 2017
Barbra Streisand’s take on Jule Styne and Bob Merrill’s “People,” immortalized in the 1968 film “Funny Girl,” and Harry Richman’s take on Irving Berlin’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz” are among this year’s inductees to the National Recording Registry.
As Billboard reported, each year the Registry selects 25 songs or albums to be preserved by the Library of Congress. This year’s inductees, in addition to Streisand and Richman, include N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton,” Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow,” and the first broadcast of All Things Considered.
Billboard quoted Streisand as calling the recognition “humbling and gratifying.”
“I believe ‘People’ touched our common desire to relate to others with love and caring, and I’ve always tried to express this in my renditions of this magical song,” she said.
According to the Library of Congress, inductees to the Registry are chosen with the goal of “showcasing the range and diversity of American recorded sound heritage in order to increase preservation awareness.”
2016’s inductees included two takes on Kurt Weill’s “Mack the Knife.”
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