London: Donna Summer’s classic ‘I Feel Love’ has been named as one of the 25 songs and other sounds that are to be inducted into the US National Recording Registry.
The hit has joined The Grateful Dead’s 1977 concert at Cornell University on the list of sounds of cultural signifiance.
Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ and the Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’ have also been named in the list, along with other rare recordings.
‘I Feel Love’ had been chosen for the registry several weeks ago, before Summer’s death from lung cancer last week.
Matt Barton, the library’s curator of recorded sound, said that the song was selected because of its impact on club music.
“We hadn’t heard this before,” the BBC quoted him as saying about the 1977 disco anthem.
“It was enormously influential,” he said.
Leonard Bernstein’s conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1943 is among other musical extracts that are to be preserved for the library.
The soundtrack to 1970 TV film ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ has also made to the list due to its influence on introducing jazz to a wider audience.
The list also features a number of rarely heard recordings such as the sound of a talking doll captured by Thomas Edison in 1888 - the earliest known commercial sound recording.
Other non-musical recordings include rare footage of interviews with former US slaves from the 1930s.
ANI