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PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 30 March 2017
N.W.A., Vin Scully to be preserved by Library of Congress

BEN NUCKOLS track “F--- tha Police” was of Gilbert & Sullivan.
Associated Press denounced by right-wing Other additions to the reg-
WASHINGTON (AP) — First politicians and prompted a istry include Barbra Strei-
it became the basis for an warning letter from the FBI sand’s 1964 recording of
Oscar-nominated mov- to the group’s record label. the song “People,” from
ie. Now, “Straight Outta The album was also one the musical “Funny Girl”;
Compton” — the ground- of the first to receive a pa- the late David Bowie’s
breaking album from rap rental advisory label for 1972 concept album “The
group N.W.A. and a one- explicit content, the out- Rise and Fall of Ziggy Star-
time flashpoint in the na- growth of a group started dust and the Spiders from
tion’s culture wars — has by Tipper Gore, then-wife Mars”; the original-cast
been selected for the pres- of future vice president Al recording of the musical
tigious National Recording Gore. But the controversy “The Wiz” (1975); and Sister
Registry. has long since faded and Sledge’s inclusive anthem
The album was one of 25 critics consistently rank it as “We are Family” (1979).
additions to the registry one of the best hip-hop al- “I believe ‘People’
announced Wednesday bums ever made. touched our common de-
by the Library of Congress, While N.W.A. brought the sire to relate to others with
and it wasn’t the only one L.A. sound to the world of love and caring, and I’ve
with a Los Angeles connec- rap, Scully is an L.A. trans- always tried to express
tion. Baseball play-by-play plant who moved west with this in my renditions of this
from Vin Scully, who retired the Dodgers. He was 29 magical song,” Streisand In this July 31, 1967 file photo, actress-singer Judy Garland pos-
last year after calling Dodg- years old when he called said in a statement.q es backstage at the Palace Theater in New York. The Library of
ers games for 67 years, will his last game at the Polo Congress announced 25 new additions to the registry, Wednes-
also join the national li- Grounds, which was about day, March 29, 2017.
brary’s trove of recordings, 20 blocks from his grammar Associated Press
which are selected for their school, and he captured
historical, artistic or cultural the melancholy of the mo-
significance. ment.
The library chose Scully’s “I wanted that game to
call of the final meet- take forever, which is a
ing between the Brook- little different. Today, ev-
lyn Dodgers and the New eryone talks about, and
York Giants at Manhattan’s maybe not the fans, but
Polo Grounds in 1957. Both certainly those of us broad-
teams would depart for casting and writing, we’re
California after that sea- always talking about how
son. long the game is. Baseball
“It’s a rather imposing call is now trying to see if they
to realize that something can’t speed things up,”
that you have done would Scully said. “But as a kid
technically live forever in way back, and even as a
the Library of Congress,” broadcaster, I remember
Scully, 89, told The Associ- saying, ‘Take it easy fellas,
ated Press from his home in be slow, let’s squeeze all of
Hidden Hills, California. “It the juice out of this game
was a particularly mean- before we finally close the
ingful game for me any- curtain on it.’”
way, so to have it picked Recordings picked for the
up and put for posterity is registry are preserved at
rather humbling and, at the library’s vast audio-vi-
the same time, overwhelm- sual vault in Culpeper, Vir-
ing.” ginia. If they have already
Plenty of standards are join- been preserved elsewhere,
ing the registry too, includ- the library collaborates with
ing Judy Garland’s version those studios or archives to
of “Over the Rainbow,” ensure they will be avail-
the Eagles’ 1976 greatest- able to future generations.
hits collection and Don This year’s selections
McLean’s elliptical 1971 date back as far as 1888.
folk song “American Pie.” That’s when Col. George
Released in 1988, “Straight Gouraud, a Civil War hero
Outta Compton” influ- and friend of Thomas Edi-
enced a generation of rap- son, used his newly ac-
pers with its raw lyrics about quired wax-cylinder pho-
gang violence and the nograph to record the
drug trade in south central voices of prominent poets,
Los Angeles. It achieved scientists, musicians and
platinum sales without ra- politicians, including Wil-
dio airplay and captured liam Ewart Gladstone, the
the attention of white future prime minister of Brit-
America. The incendiary ain, and Sir Arthur Sullivan