What was the first classic rock song in the Library of Congress?
Rock ‘n’ roll is the great artistic advancement of our age. In the Italian Renaissance, it was paintings and sculptures; in the French Revolution, it was exalted prose, but in the counterculture days, it was good old rock ‘n’ roll.
The genre reached the heart of the masses while stirring a generation dramatically. It was new, vital and vibrant. And it sought out new horizons, with the youth taking control of their circumstances as best they could.
Equally, its story is an essential part of our history. During the slave trade, roughly 12 million people were shipped predominantly from West Africa across the Atlantic. Therein, their voodoo ancestry was stripped, and Western religions were indoctrinated. However, it is a mark of the spiritual fortitude of those who suffered that their heritage was upheld in its own way, and now there are echoes of it in what is arguably the most celebrated religion of them all: the enrapturing of modern music in all of its glorious guises.
Catholicism was forced upon them, but rather than drowning out the Vodou tunes, it merely formed a fusion. The drums and rhythms may well have been abandoned, but gospel songs became a fusion where Vodou and hymns met. The same sense of profound exultation was present, and the drums were vocalised in the chants and incantations of sing-along songs of soul salvation. And these chants were of vital importance. They codified messages of resistance.
But for a while, this new mutation of folk was resigned to the humble dirges of the blues. It wasn’t until pop culture arrived that rock ‘n’ roll was assembled, building not just a full-band sound but also an aesthetic that still proves instantly recognisable to this day. While it might have spread across the world since then, the origins of the genre are uniquely American, born from Congo Square in New Orleans from the mingling of immigrant cultures that would meet there.
So, it stands to reason that it is a firm fixture in the US Library of Congress. However, it did take a little while before it wove its way in there alongside the esteemed texts of yore and movies like Citizen Kane.
So, what songs are in the US Library of Congress?
The US Library of Congress includes a plethora of notable recordings. It intends to house works that have been deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”. This includes everything from Martin Luther King Jr speeches to Abbot and Costello sketches and Bob Dylan songs. But what is the first example of America’s greatest export in its ranks? What powers can be deemed classic rock in the truest sense?
Well, while you might find its blues building blocks in the form of Bessie Smith’s practically howled classic, ‘Downhearted Blues’ from 1923, the first example of rock ‘n’ roll as we know it entered is from 1954 in the form of Elvis Presley’s famed Sun Records Sessions.
As pretty much the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll as we know it, and most certainly the moment that started the movement, each and every single one of these recordings was deemed worthy of its place on the esteemed shelves of the Capitol Hill buildings, marking classic rock’s first trip into the American history books.
What were Elvis Presley’s Sun Records Sessions?
Sun Records was the first record label that Elvis signed to, so the sessions captured him at his earliest and rawest. They signed him in an impromptu fashion, too. On June 26th, 1954, an 18-year-old Elvis received a phone call from Sun Records. His previous encounter with Sun Records was when he paid $4 to record the song ‘My Happiness’ as a gift for his mother, Gladys. This was a standard way for a studio to earn a bit of extra cash back in the day, but when Elvis rolled in, he sent a few eyebrows rocketing.
Thus, producer Sam Phillips thought he might be a good fit for a track titled ‘Without You’, which came into his possession in May of 1954. So, he called back the strange kid who had just dumped his pocket money on a ludicrously ample gift. However, the unusual thing about the ‘Without You’ demo is that nobody knew who the original singer was. Adding to the mystery is that he was so good that a young Elvis apparently exclaimed, “I hate him. Why can’t I sing like that?” He tried his best to do so for the rest of his career, and his own style was spawned, even if ‘Without You’ was abandoned for songs that suited his pipes better.
But it was a formative moment for the singer, and Phillips saw his talent shine through even if he was struggling to match the mystic voice, later revealed to be the sadly forgotten Jimmy Sweeney. So, they decided to record demo after demo and these sessions are now housed in the Library of Congress—the first in their journey through rock ‘n’ roll.
What songs did Elvis Presley record in his Sun Records sessions?
- ‘My Happiness’
- ‘That’s When Your Heartaches Begin’
- ‘I’ll Never Stand in Your Way’
- ‘It Wouldn’t Be the Same Without You’
- ‘I Love You Because’
- ‘That’s All Right’
- ‘Harbor Lights’
- ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’
- ‘Blue Moon’
- ‘Tomorrow Night’
- ‘I’ll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin’)’
- ‘Satisfied’
- ‘I Don’t Care If the Sun Don’t Shine’
- ‘Just Because’
- ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’
- ‘Milkcow Blues Boogie’
- ‘You’re a Heartbreaker’
- ‘Baby Let’s Play House’
- ‘I Got a Woman’
- ‘Tryin’ to Get to You’
- ‘I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone’
- ‘I Forgot to Remember to Forget’
- ‘Mystery Train’
- ‘When It Rains, It Really Pours’
Shortly after these sessions, when it became clear that there might be a king in the making, Sun Records made the decision to sell their top asset to RCA for $35,000. But fear not; it wasn’t as much of a disastrous move as it might sound because Phillips had a plan. Anticipating that big labels would come fishing, Phillips had already been eyeing up what he could possibly do with the funds. He didn’t look far beyond Memphis, mind you. Staying close to home, the music mogul decided to invest his money in a local hotel chain.
With the world changing and Memphis making a name for itself as a cultural hotspot, Phillips figured that more people would be vacationing in the future, and a fair few of them would be flocking to Tennessee. The name of that little hotel chain, well, it was the Holiday Inn. Before the pandemic struck, the hotel empire was grossing an annual revenue of $6.5 billion. And that pretty much wraps up the tale of the first rock ‘n’ roll moment deemed worthy of national recognition and posterity—a uniquely American commercial success.
How many songs are now in the Library of Congress?
While Presley’s trip into the Library might have marked the beginning of pop’s prominent rise, plenty more have followed in its wake. In fact, it became culturally unavoidable that the LoC would have to come up with a way to collate the most esteemed works. This resulted in the official Recording Registry.
As the LoC state, “Each year, the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress chooses 25 recordings showcasing the range and diversity of American recorded sound heritage in order to increase preservation awareness. The diversity of nominations received highlights the richness of the nation’s audio legacy and underscores the importance of assuring the long-term preservation of that legacy for future generations. Currently, there are 600 works/titles on the National Recording Registry.”
This has resulted in classic records like ‘American Pie’, ‘Are You Experienced’, and ‘Tutti Frutti’ all making it in, to name but three.
