HEAR A CHIMPANZEE, GORRILAA CAN LAUGH

Great apes laugh similar to the way we do, determined University of Portsmouth primatologist Marina Davila Ross and her colleagues. Please read about their work here at Discovery News.

Credit for all images and sound files below goes to Marina Davila Ross.

A young orangutan laughing while being tickled

Have you ever heard a non-human primate laugh? You can answer that question with a resounding “yes” after listening to the following:

Bonobo
Download Bonobo Laughter MP3

Chimp
Download Chimpanzee Laughter MP3

Gorilla
Download Gorilla Laughter MP3

Orangutan
Download Orangutan Laughter MP3

Human Baby
Download Human Laughter MP3

MONKEY WAIT TABLES, TEND BAR IN JAPAN

What do you all think of this?

From CBS News RAW: “Two monkeys make up the wait staff at a restaurant in Japan. One hands out warm towels while the other brings out drinks. They take soybeans for tips.”

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Posted by Jennifer Viegas at 11:30 AM in Animals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ShareThis
Some Men Carry a Warrior Gene

From Florida State University:

<<Boys who carry a particular variation of the gene Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), sometimes called the “warrior gene,” are more likely not only to join gangs but also to be among the most violent members and to use weapons, according to a new study from The Florida State University that is the first to confirm an MAOA link specifically to gangs and guns.

Findings apply only to males. Girls with the same variant of the MAOA gene seem resistant to its potentially violent effects on gang membership and weapon use.

Led by noted biosocial criminologist Kevin M. Beaver at FSU’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, the study sheds new light on the interplay of genetics and environment that produces some of society’s most serious violent offenders.

“While gangs typically have been regarded as a sociological phenomenon, our investigation shows that variants of a specific MAOA gene, known as a ‘low-activity 3-repeat allele,’ play a significant role,” said Beaver, an award-winning researcher who has co-authored more than 50 published papers on the biosocial underpinnings of criminal behavior.

“Previous research has linked low-activity MAOA variants to a wide range of antisocial, even violent, behavior, but our study confirms that these variants can predict gang membership,” he said. “Moreover, we found that variants of this gene could distinguish gang members who were markedly more likely to behave violently and use weapons from members who were less likely to do either.”

Assistant Professor Kevin M. Beaver of The Florida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice

(Credit: Michele Edmunds/FSU Photo Lab)

The MAOA gene affects levels of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin that are related to mood and behavior, and those variants that are related to violence are hereditary. Some previous studies have found the “warrior gene” to be more prevalent in cultures that are typified by warfare and aggression.

“What’s interesting about the MAOA gene is its location on the X-chromosome,” Beaver said. “As a result, males, who have one X-chromosome and one Y-chromosome, possess only one copy of this gene, while females, who have two X-chromosomes, carry two. Thus, if a male has an allele (variant) for the MAOA gene that is linked to violence, there isn’t another copy to counteract it. Females, in contrast, have two copies, so even if they have one risk allele, they have another that could compensate for it. That’s why most MAOA research has focused on males, and probably why the MAOA effect has, for the most part, only been detected in males.”

The new study examined DNA data and lifestyle information drawn from more than 2,500 respondents to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Beaver and colleagues from Florida State, Iowa State and Saint Louis universities detailed their findings in a paper to be published in a forthcoming edition of the journal Comprehensive Psychiatry. Currently, the paper (“Monoamine oxidase A genotype is associated with gang membership and weapon use”) is accessible online at www.comppsychjournal.com via the “Articles in Press” link.

In addition to the MAOA study, Beaver’s body of biosocial criminology research includes published research that links genetics to adolescent victimization and formation of delinquent peer groups and the use of steroids to “roid rage” — all among the first such works in the field. He won the American Society of Criminology’s 2009 Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award in recognition of his outstanding scholarly contributions during the short time since he earned a Ph.D. in criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati in 2006. Beaver is the coauthor/editor of “Biosocial Criminology: A Primer” (Kendall/Hunt, 2009) and six other books.

For more about Beaver’s groundbreaking research and Florida State University’s nationally top 10-ranked College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, visit www.criminology.fsu.edu/.>>

MEGALODON “KILLING GROUND” EXCAVATED

This just in from UC Berkeley:

<<In the famed Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed near Bakersfield, Calif., shark teeth as big as a hand and weighing a pound each, intermixed with copious bones from extinct seals and whales, seem to tell of a 15-million-year-old killing ground.

Teeth such as this from the extinct 40-foot-long shark Carcharocles megalodon are common in the Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed because, like modern sharks, these extinct sharks also shed teeth throughout their lives.

(UC Berkeley; Nick Pyenson/University of British Columbia photos)

Yet, new research by a team of paleontologists from the University of California, Berkeley, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and the University of Utah paints a less catastrophic picture. Instead of a sudden die-off, the researchers say that the bone bed is a 700,000-year record of normal life and death, kept free of sediment by unusual climatic conditions between 15 million and 16 million years ago.

The team’s interpretation of the fossils and the geology to establish the origins of the bone bed, the richest and most extensive marine deposit of bones in the world, are presented in the June 2009 issue of the journal Geology.

The mix of shark bones and teeth, turtle shells three times the size of today’s leatherbacks, and ancient whale, seal, dolphin and fish skeletons, comprise a unique six-to-20-inch-thick layer of fossil bones, 10 miles of it exposed, that covers nearly 50 square miles just outside and northeast of Bakersfield.

(Nick Pyenson/University of British Columbia photos)

Since the bed’s discovery in the 1850s, paleontologists have battled over an obvious question: How did the bones get there? Was this a killing ground for megalodon, a 40-foot version of today’s great white shark? Was it a long-term breeding area for seals and other marine mammals, like Mexico’s Scammon’s lagoon is for the California gray whale? Did a widespread catastrophe, like a red tide or volcanic eruption, lead to a massive die-off?

The new and extensive study of the fossils and the geology of Sharktooth Hill tells a less dramatic story, but an important one, for understanding the origin of rich fossil accumulations, said Nicholas Pyenson, a former UC Berkeley graduate student who is now a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia.

“If you look at the geology of this fossil bed, it’s not intuitive how it formed,” Pyenson said. “We really put together all lines of evidence, with the fossil evidence being a big part of it, to obtain a snapshot of that period of time.”

Pyenson and his colleagues, totaling five UC Berkeley Ph.D.s and UC Berkeley integrative biology professor Jere Lipps, hope that the study will draw renewed attention to the bone bed, which Lipps said needs protection even though a small portion of it was added to the National Natural Landmark registry in 1976.

A fossil sea lion, Allodesmus, exposed in the Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed during excavations in 1960 by UC Berkeley’s Jere Lipps and Edward Mitchell, now at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

The entire skeleton (skull is at bottom center) was collected by Lipps and Mitchell and was on display in the museum for decades. For scale, the pick is three feet long. (Jere Lipps/UC Berkeley photo)

“This deposit, if properly developed, would look just like Dinosaur National Monument,” said Lipps, referring to a popular park in Colorado and Utah. “(Sharktooth Hill) is actually much more extensive, and the top of the bone bed has complete, articulated skeletons of seals and other marine mammals.”

One 12-foot-long fossil seal skeleton that Lipps helped excavate during the 50 years he has visited the bone bed was mounted and displayed for decades at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM), which houses thousands of fossils excavated from the Sharktooth Hill deposits during expeditions in the 1960s and 1980s. Other collections are in the California Academy of Sciences, San Diego Natural History Museum, Buena Vista Museum of Natural History in Bakersfield, and UC Berkeley’s Museum of Paleontology (UCMP), where students over the years have made studies of the bone bed’s extinct sea turtles, sharks, marine mammals and seabirds. Lipps is a faculty curator in the UCMP.

The paper’s other coauthors – all of whom obtained their Ph.D.s from UC Berkeley – are Randall B. Irmis, now an assistant professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah, and Lawrence G. Barnes, Edward D. Mitchell Jr. and Samuel A. McLeod of NHM’s Department of Vertebrate Paleontology.

When the bone bed formed between 15,900,000 and 15,200,000 years ago, the climate was warming, sea level was at a peak, California’s Central Valley was an inland sea dubbed the Temblor Sea and the emerging Sierra Nevada was shoreline. By closely studying the geology of the Sharktooth Hill area, the paleontologists determined that it was part of an underwater shelf in a large embayment, directly opposite a wide opening to the sea.

Pyenson and Irmis examined some 3,000 fossilized bone and teeth specimens in the collections of many museums, including the NHM and UCMP, and they and Lipps also cut out a meter-square section of the bone bed, complete with the rock layers above and below, and transported it to UC Berkeley for study.

Below the bone bed, they found several feet of mudstone interlaced with shrimp burrows, typical of ocean floor sediment several hundred to several thousand feet below the surface. The bone bed itself averaged 200 bones per square meter, most of them larger bones, with almost no sediment. Most were disarticulated, as if the animal carcasses had decayed and their bones had been scattered by currents.

“The bones look a bit rotten,” Lipps said, “as if they lay on the seafloor for a long time and were abraded by water with sand in it.” Many bones had manganese nodules and growths, which form on bones that sit for long periods in sea water before being covered by sediment.

Toward the top of the bone bed, some articulated skeletons of seals and whales were found, while in the layer above the bone bed, most skeletons were articulated and encased in sediment.

The team’s conclusion is that the climatic conditions were such that currents carried sediment around the bone beds for 100,000 to 700,000 years, during which time bones remained exposed on the ocean floor and accumulated in a big and shifting pile.

A reconstructed skeleton of the extinct seal Allodesmus from the Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed, now on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Given the rarity of bones marked by shark bites, plus the occurrence of terrestrial animals such as tapirs and horses that must have washed out to sea, predation by sharks like Carcharocles megalodon seems unlikely to have been the major source of the bone bed, the authors wrote. Because of few young or juvenile specimens, the team also discounted the hypothesis that this was a breeding ground for early seals such as Allodesmus. The absence of volcanic ash makes a volcanic catastrophe unlikely, while the presence of land mammal fossils makes red tide an unlikely cause.

“These animals were dying over the whole area, but no sediment deposition was going on, possibly related to rising sea levels that snuffed out silt and sand deposition or restricted it to the very near-shore environment,” Pyenson said. “Once sea level started going down, then more sediment began to erode from near shore.”

Pyenson noted that, while bone beds around the world occur in diverse land and marine environments, the team’s analysis of the Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed could have implications for other fossil-rich marine deposits.

The work was funded by UCMP and UC Berkeley’s Department of Integrative Biology, as well as by grants from the Geological Society of America and the American Museum of Natural History, and graduate fellowships from the National Science Foundation.>>

HOW SNAKES SLITHER

From NYU and Georgia Tech:

<<Snakes use both friction generated by their scales and redistribution of their weight to slither along flat surfaces, researchers at New York University and the Georgia Institute of Technology have found. Their findings, which appear in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, run counter to previous studies that have shown snakes move by pushing laterally against rocks and branches.

A boa constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator) of characteristic body length 60 cm. Images courtesy of Grace Pryor and David Hu, New York University.

“We found that snakes’ belly scales are oriented so that snakes resist sliding toward their tails and flanks,” said the paper’s lead author, David Hu, a former post-doctoral researcher at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and now an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “These scales give the snakes a preferred direction of motion, which makes snake movement a lot like that of wheels, cross-country skis, or ice skates. In all these examples, sliding forwards takes less work than does sliding sideways.”

The study’s other co-authors were Jasmine Nirody and Terri Scott, both undergraduate researchers at NYU, Michael Shelley, a professor of mathematics and neural science and the Lilian and George Lyttle Professor of Applied Mathematics at Courant.

A corn snake (Elaphe guttata) of characteristic body length 40 cm.and debris.

The study centered on the frictional anisotropy—or resistance to sliding in certain directions—of a snake’s belly scales. While previous investigators had suggested that the frictional anisotropy of these scales might play a role in locomotion over flat surfaces, the details of this process had not been understood.

To explore this matter, the researchers first developed a theoretical model of a snake’s movement. The model determined the speed of a snake’s center of mass as a function of the speed and size of its body waves, taking into account the laws of friction and the scales’ frictional anisotropy. The model suggested that a snake’s motion arises by the interaction of surface friction and its internal body forces.

To confirm movement as predicted by the model, the researchers then measured the sliding resistance of snake scales and monitored the movement of snakes through a series of experiments on flat and inclined surfaces. They employed video and time-lapse photography to gauge their movements.

By shining light through a gelatin, David Hu observes the forces applied by a snake as it slithers. White regions show high force, indicating that the snake lifts the peaks and troughs of its body when slithering.

The results showed a close relationship between what the model predicted and the snakes’ actual movements. The theoretical predictions of the model were generally consistent with the snakes’ actual body speeds on both flat and inclined surfaces.>>

DREAMING OF SNOW LEOPARDS

A few weeks ago, I met up with volunteers from the Snow Leopard Trust. They are working hard to help save these majestic cats, which now number 3,500, or even less, in the wild.

(Credit for images: Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, WA; Snow Leopard Trust)

Snow leopards are symbols of ecosystem health. Their present population therefore sends a worrisome message about the overall health and stability of species in the mountain highlands of Central Asia.

Through the Snow Leopard Trust, nomadic communities who share the cats’ region can sell their traditional crafts and earn income for food, medicine and education. This exchange relieves the economic pressures that can drive herders to hunt snow leopards, helping to protect the leopards and their prey, which includes sheep, wild goats and birds.

It’s a very clever win-win, in my opinion, since the quality of life in these impoverished human communities has been steadily improving as a result, while the snow leopards are being given a greater chance for survival.

During this busy work week, I’m dreaming of snow leopards and their beautiful habitat, and invite you to do the same.

LISTEN TO THE ANIMAL SONGS ADDED IN THE NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY

Twenty-five new songs have just been added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Their Top 10 out of that group includes two songs that are about animals, with one actually featuring singing birds. In fact, the number one song on the list is called “No News, or What Killed the Dog,” by Nat M. Wills (1908).

Nat M. Wills. From “The Vaudevillians: a Dictionary of Vaudeville Performers” by Anthony Slide; Westport, Conn.: Arlington House, 1981

Wills’ recording captured a gifted monologist at his best and became one of the most popular performances on early records. The “No News” monologue, with roots in oral tradition, was one of vaudeville’s most famous and often-copied routines. The monologue unfolds as a piecemeal report by a servant to his master who recently returned from a trip, assuring him that there is nothing new to report from home, except that his dog has died. Nat M. Wills displays masterful comic timing as he slowly reveals, in a escalating hierarchy of domestic disasters, the events that led up to the dog’s death.

Download No_news

Number 4 on the list is “Songs of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker” (1935).

Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Color engraving by R. Havell, after drawing by John J. Audubon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

In 1935, on their expedition to document rare North American birds, Arthur Allen
and Peter Paul Kellogg of Cornell University recorded a pair of ivory-billed woodpeckers in an old-growth Louisiana swamp forest known as the Singer Tract. These recordings of the birds’ calls and foraging taps are presently the last confirmed aural evidence of what was once the largest woodpecker species in the United States. The last universally accepted sighting of an ivory-bill occurred in 1944. However, since that time, many scientists believe there have been credible sightings of the species, suggesting the bird might not be extinct. The 1935 recordings have been vital to recent searches and have been used to train searchers on what to listen for and to compare with new recordings made in the field. They have also been used to develop pattern-recognition software to enlist computers to analyze new field recordings to identify similar sounds.

Download Ivory-billed-woodpecker

The entire list reads as follows:

1. “No News, or What Killed the Dog,” Nat M. Wills (1908)

2. Acoustic Recordings for Victor Records, Jascha Heifetz (1917-1924)

Sixteen-year-old Jascha Heifetz made his debut at Carnegie Hall in October 1917. He was immediately hailed as one of the greatest violinists of the time, praised for his immaculate technique and exceptional tonal beauty. Soon after his debut, Heifetz started recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company, maintaining a relationship with Victor, and later RCA Victor, over the course of his career. The acoustic recordings, made between 1917 and 1924, were mostly light recital pieces with piano accompaniment. The Victor Records brochure promoting his first four recordings touted “his phenomenal technique, complete mastery of bow and control of finger” and proclaimed his performances “as Mozart might have played.”

3. “Night Life,” Mary Lou Williams (1930)

When a record producer asked for an impromptu solo piano performance, 20-year-old Mary Lou Williams created an original three-minute collage of stride, ragtime, blues and pop styles that summarized the art of jazz piano to that time while pointing to the future of that genre and her own career in it. At the time, she was a pianist, composer and arranger for Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy, one of the great jazz bands of the Midwest. She later said that thoughts about the nightlife of Kansas City had driven this composition.

4. Sounds of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (1935)

5. “Gang Busters,” radio program broadcast (1935-1957)

The radio crime drama series “Gang Busters” was the creation of Phillips H. Lord, producer of the successful “Seth Parker” series. Capitalizing on the public’s fascination with gangsters, Lord based his new show on true crime stories, going so far as to obtain the cooperation of the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. “G-men,” as the series was known initially, premiered in mid-1935, but the FBI’s enthusiasm waned quickly and its cooperation diminished. Revised as “Gang Busters,” the show remained on the air until the late 1950s. The program’s spectacular opening, which included sirens, police whistles, gunshots and tires screeching, inspired the slang expression, “come on like gangbusters!”

6. “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,” Andrews Sisters (1938)

This adapted English-language version of a popular song from a Yiddish musical by Jacob Jacobs and Sholom Secunda brought the Andrews Sisters to national attention and made them famous. In the adapted version by Sammy Cahn, the only Yiddish retained was the song title (translation: To me, you are beautiful), a phrase which was repeated throughout the song. Vic Schoen, the sisters’ bandleader and arranger, turned the new song into a swing sensation that showcased the girls’ close harmony singing and smooth vocal syncopations.

7. “Que é Que a Bahiana Tem?,” Carmen Miranda (1939)

This recording, with its lively exchange between singer and dancer Carmen Miranda and the band, embodies the merriment of Brazilian Carnival songs. “Que é Que a Bahiana Tem?” (“What does the Bahian girl have?”) was an enormously successful recording in Brazil that celebrated Bahia culture at its roots and solidified samba’s hold on Brazilian popular music. The recording helped to introduce both the samba rhythm and Carmen Miranda to American audiences. It was also the first recording of a song by Dorival Caymmi, who went on to become a major composer and performer.

8. NBC Radio coverage of Marian Anderson’s recital at the Lincoln Memorial (April 9, 1939)

By 1939, Marian Anderson had been hailed as the greatest contralto of her generation, yet she was refused the use of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. because she was an African-American. The ensuing controversy climaxed with her historic recital on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939. There she sang to an audience of over 75,000 people, with a national radio audience of millions more. Though brief newsreel excerpts of her brilliant performance have become familiar and even iconic since that time, the contemporary impact of this live, continuous radio coverage cannot be underestimated, and it is now our most complete documentation of this key event in the struggle for civil rights.

9. “Tom Dooley,” Frank Profitt (1940)

Frank Profitt (1913-1965) first sang the murder ballad “Tom Dula” for Frank and Anne Warner in 1938 in Beech Mountain, North Carolina. Proffitt recorded a portion of it for the Warners two years later, accompanying himself on a banjo of his own making. Although Profitt’s performance would not be commercially released until many years later, it provided the basis for Frank Warner’s national performances of the song as a singing folklorist and for the arrangement of the song, now known as “Tom Dooley,” that appeared in John and Alan Lomax’s “Folk Song USA” songbook in 1948.

10. “Uncle Sam Blues,” Oran “Hot Lips” Page, accompanied by Eddie Condon’s Jazz Band. V-Disc (1944)

During the 1940s, the United States was in the record business. The V-Disc label was created to boost morale by providing recordings of familiar American artists to service camps overseas as well as on the home front. The V-Disc program took on added significance when, owing to a dispute between the record labels and the musicians’ union over royalties, union musicians were forbidden to make commercial recordings. With the understanding that V-Discs would not be sold in the domestic market, the union permitted musicians to contribute their services for free so that some V-Disc releases could include fresh, new performances. Trumpeter Oran “Hot Lips” Page had played with the Bennie Moten Orchestra in Kansas City and was a featured performer with Artie Shaw during 1941-42. Page’s V-Disc recording of the “Uncle Sam Blues,” an ode to military conscription, must have resonated on both the war and home fronts.

11. The Mary Margaret McBride Program, Zora Neale Hurston and Mary Margaret McBride, (January 25, 1943)

Zora Neale Hurston’s appearance on the Mary Margaret McBride program is a unique audio document of this vital African-American writer whose legacy continues to grow. It is also a fine example of McBride’s widely heard and highly influential afternoon radio program at the peak of the host’s fame. As a talk-show host, McBride pioneered the unscripted radio interview. While her interview of Hurston sounds casual and folksy, it is a very informative and focused discussion of Hurston’s recent writings, her early life and education, and her ethnographic field work in Haiti and Jamaica. It is filled with humorous stories and interesting observations.

12. “Sinews of Peace” (Iron Curtain) Speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill (March 5, 1946)

Lamenting the deepening shadow of the Soviet Union’s occupation of Eastern Europe and fearing Soviet-directed, fifth-column activities in the West, Winston Churchill delivered this opening salvo of the Cold War at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. The speech heralds an increasingly widespread feeling in the West that a tougher stance was needed toward Russia, a departure following the positive image that the country enjoyed as a wartime ally in World War II. Churchill famously pronounced that “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

13. “The Churkendoose,” Ray Bolger (1947)

The Churkendoose is a children’s tale of tolerance, compassion and diversity, written by Ben Ross Berenberg for his daughter. The recording features the voice of Ray Bolger, music composed by Alec Wilder, and a supporting cast of farm animals. The Churkendoose, a creature who is part chicken, turkey, duck and goose, didn’t fit in at the farm. Rejected and ridiculed, he became a hero by saving the other animals from the fox. Ultimately, the animals embrace the Churkendoose with genuine warmth and learn a valuable lesson about acceptance.

The Churkendoose, Decca DU 90006

14. “Boogie Chillen,” John Lee Hooker (1948)

This first hit for the largely self-taught John Lee Hooker showcases his take on the Delta blues. Hooker was born in Coahoma County, Mississippi, spent his early years in Memphis and eventually moved to Detroit. The R&B label Modern released the infectiously rhythmic track after Hooker’s manager presented them with a demo. While the song’s instrumentation is simple, featuring only vocal, guitar and the tapping of Hooker’s foot, the driving rhythm and confessional lyrics have guaranteed its place as an influential and enduring blues classic.

15. “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” Dylan Thomas (1952)

Part nostalgic childhood remembrance and part poetic incantation, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” was issued with five of Dylan Thomas’ poems on Caedmon Records’ first release. According to the label’s co-founder Barbara Holdridge, Thomas arrived in the studio with insufficient material to fill an entire LP, but he remembered writing a Christmas story for Harper’s Bazaar. Holdridge and her business partner, Marianne Roney, were able to identify the piece as “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and obtained a copy from the magazine. It became one of Caedmon’s most successful releases and has been credited with launching the audiobook industry in the United States. “We had no idea of the power and beauty of this voice,” Holdridge said of Thomas’ reading, “We just expected a poet with a poet’s voice, but this was a full orchestral voice.”

16. “A Festival of Lessons and Carols as Sung on Christmas Eve in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge,” King’s College Choir; Boris Ord, director (1954)

The annual Festival of Lessons and Carols by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, was introduced in 1918 to bring a new, imaginative approach to worship. The British Broadcasting Corporation began broadcasting the festival in 1928 and included it in BBC’s overseas shortwave schedule starting in the early 1930s. Organist and choirmaster Boris Ord, who conducted the service most years between 1929 and 1957, is highly respected for the standards of musical excellence that he elicited from the choir. This 1954 Argo recording, published in the U.S. by Westminster Records, provided most Americans with their first opportunity to experience this beloved Christmas tradition, which has since become a seasonal mainstay in many American churches.

17. “West Side Story,” original-cast recording (1957)

While there are over 40 recordings of the score to the Broadway show “West Side Story” in various languages and styles, the original-cast recording is in many ways unequaled. The orchestra was increased to 37 for the recording, but the performances of this rich score are visceral and passionate. Bernstein’s music—with its Latin, jazz, rock and classical influences—was arguably the most demanding score heard on Broadway up to that point. Boasting Stephen Sondheim’s first lyrics for a Broadway musical, the songs range from the passionate love song “Tonight,” through the social satire of “America” and “Gee, Officer Krupke,” to the anthem hoping for a better world, “Somewhere.”

18. “Tom Dooley,” The Kingston Trio (1958)

The Kingston Trio recorded their version of “Tom Dooley” on their debut album for Capitol Records in early 1958. The song was already part of their regular set list and was also in the repertoire of other folk revivalists such as the Tarriers and the Gateway Trio. In spite of Dave Guard’s distinctive and dramatic opening narration, the song attracted little attention on its own until a Salt Lake City radio station began playing it heavily, prompting Capitol Records to place an 1866 murder ballad on a 45rpm record for the teenage market. This sparked a modern-folk revival, the influence of which would be felt throughout American popular music.

19. “Rumble,” Link Wray (1958)

Asked for a tune that kids could dance “The Stroll” to, Link Wray came up with this powerfully menacing guitar instrumental on the spot, and the crowd went wild, demanding encores. When he couldn’t recreate the distorted sound of his live version in a studio, Wray poked holes in his amp speakers, cranked up the tremolo, and was then able to capture what he wanted in three takes — for a cost of $57. Originally titled “Oddball,” it was renamed after the gang fights in “West Side Story” by a record producer’s daughter. Wray’s primal guitar influenced a generation of rockers including Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, the Kinks, Jimmy Page and Neil Young. Bob Dylan called “Rumble” the “greatest instrumental ever.” Pete Townshend said, “… if it hadn’t been for Link Wray and ‘Rumble,’ I would have never picked up a guitar.”

20. “The Play of Daniel: A Twelfth-Century Drama,” New York Pro Musica under the direction of Noah Greenberg (1958)

Determined to change contemporary attitudes towards early music, Noah Greenberg founded New York Pro Musica, a performing ensemble of singers and instrumentalists in 1952, and found great success with performances of medieval, Renaissance and baroque music. Pro Musica introduced audiences to relatively neglected genres of music and influenced many early-music ensembles. His 1958 recording of “The Play of Daniel,” a 12th century liturgical drama, exemplifies the best of his work. It is a joyful approach to the repertoire, early use of authentic instruments, and outstanding performances by the musicians under his direction.

21. “At Last!,” Etta James (1961)

Etta James’ recording of “At Last” is widely acknowledged as a “crossover” masterpiece. The song was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the 1941 Glenn Miller film, “Orchestra Wives.” It became the title track on the first album that James recorded for Leonard and Phil Chess in 1961. In the producers’ attempt to widen Jones’ audience and sales, the album features many jazz and pop standards in addition to blues, which had been the focus of James’ work until that time. Her sultry, blues-inflected approach to “At Last” — set in a brilliant strings and rhythm section arrangement by Riley Hampton — transcends genre, like all great crossover interpretations.

Etta James. CD booklet: Etta James: the Chess Box, MCA/Chess Records 088 112 288-2

22. “Rank Stranger,” Stanley Brothers (1960)

The Stanley Brothers, one of the premier bands of the formative days of bluegrass, included sacred songs as a featured part of their performances. Their recording of “Rank Stranger,” written by famed gospel songwriter Albert E. Brumley Sr. and sung with reverence and simplicity in the traditional mountain style, shows why the Stanley Brothers continue to influence performers today. Carter Stanley’s masterful handling of the verses and his brother Ralph’s soaring tenor refrain produce a distinctive duet. The spare accompaniment of unamplified guitar and mandolin and the emotional call-and-response style vocals heighten the emotional anguish of the lyric.

23. “2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks,” Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (1961)

The secret to living 2000 years? “Never touch fried foods!” In their party routine first performed for friends, Mel Brooks played a 2000-year-old man, while Carl Reiner, as the straight man, interviewed him. After much convincing, the two writers for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” recorded their ad-libbed dialogue for a 1961 album. Interview subjects ranged from marriage (“I was married over 200 times!”) and children (“I have over 1500 children and not one of them ever comes to visit!”) to transportation (“What was the means of transportation? Fear.”).

24. “The Who Sings My Generation,” The Who (1966)

On their first album, The Who, assisted by The Kinks’ producer Shel Talmy, laid down a set of tracks that would include both enduring classics and mainstays of their later concert performances. Pete Townshend penned the rebellious title track, “My Generation,” which features John Entwistle playing one of the earliest bass leads in rock. The song is also known for Townshend’s proto-punk, two-chord guitar riff with distortion and feedback. The album was billed as “maximum R&B” and it included Bo Diddley and James Brown covers. However, it primarily marked Pete Townshend’s assumption of main songwriting duties for the band. Keith Moon, the band’s legendary drummer, is featured on “The Ox,” a song they would continue to play live throughout their career.

The Who Sings My Generation, MCA/Decca 088 112 926-2

25. “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” George Jones (1980)

George Jones has said that he initially thought “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was too sad to be very popular, but, at one of the lowest points of his career and personal life, he made it one of country music’s defining and most enduring songs. Billy Sherrill’s restrained production highlighted the plaintive yet highly nuanced vocals that were the hallmark of Jones’ mature style, but which stretched back to his days singing for tips in the streets of his hometown, Beaumont, Texas, in the 1940s.

Sound clips from the newly added recordings are featured in the below montage.

Twenty-five new songs have just been added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Their Top 10 out of that group includes two songs that are about animals, with one actually featuring singing birds. In fact, the number one song on the list is called “No News, or What Killed the Dog,” by Nat M. Wills (1908).

Nat M. Wills. From “The Vaudevillians: a Dictionary of Vaudeville Performers” by Anthony Slide; Westport, Conn.:  Arlington House, 1981

 

Wills’ recording captured a gifted monologist at his best and became one of the most popular performances on early records. The “No News” monologue, with roots in oral tradition, was one of vaudeville’s most famous and often-copied routines. The monologue unfolds as a piecemeal report by a servant to his master who recently returned from a trip, assuring him that there is nothing new to report from home, except that his dog has died. Nat M. Wills displays masterful comic timing as he slowly reveals, in a escalating hierarchy of domestic disasters, the events that led up to the dog’s death.

Download No_news

Number 4 on the list is “Songs of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker” (1935).

Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Color engraving by R. Havell, after drawing by John J. Audubon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 

In 1935, on their expedition to document rare North American birds, Arthur Allen
and Peter Paul Kellogg of Cornell University recorded a pair of ivory-billed woodpeckers in an old-growth Louisiana swamp forest known as the  Singer Tract. These recordings of the birds’ calls and foraging taps are presently the last confirmed aural evidence of what was once the largest woodpecker species in the United States. The last universally accepted sighting of an ivory-bill occurred in 1944.  However, since that time, many scientists believe there have been credible sightings of the species, suggesting the bird might not be extinct. The 1935 recordings have been vital to recent searches and have been used to train searchers on what to listen for and to compare with new recordings made in the field.  They have also been used to develop pattern-recognition software to enlist computers to analyze new field recordings to identify similar sounds.

Download Ivory-billed-woodpecker

The entire list reads as follows:

1.  “No News, or What Killed the Dog,” Nat M. Wills (1908)

2.  Acoustic Recordings for Victor Records, Jascha Heifetz (1917-1924)

Sixteen-year-old Jascha Heifetz made his debut at Carnegie Hall in October 1917. He was immediately hailed as one of the greatest violinists of the time, praised for his immaculate technique and exceptional tonal beauty. Soon after his debut, Heifetz started recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company, maintaining a relationship with Victor, and later RCA Victor, over the course of his career. The acoustic recordings, made between 1917 and 1924, were mostly light recital pieces with piano accompaniment. The Victor Records brochure promoting his first four recordings touted “his phenomenal technique, complete mastery of bow and control of finger” and proclaimed his performances “as Mozart might have played.”

3.  “Night Life,” Mary Lou Williams (1930)

When a record producer asked for an impromptu solo piano performance, 20-year-old Mary Lou Williams created an original three-minute collage of stride, ragtime, blues and pop styles that summarized the art of jazz piano to that time while pointing to the future of that genre and her own career in it. At the time, she was a pianist, composer and arranger for Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy, one of the great jazz bands of the Midwest. She later said that thoughts about the nightlife of Kansas City had driven this composition.

4.  Sounds of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (1935)

5.  “Gang Busters,” radio program broadcast (1935-1957)

The radio crime drama series “Gang Busters” was the creation of Phillips H. Lord, producer of the successful “Seth Parker” series. Capitalizing on the public’s fascination with gangsters, Lord based his new show on true crime stories, going so far as to obtain the cooperation of the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. “G-men,” as the series was known initially, premiered in mid-1935, but the FBI’s enthusiasm waned quickly and its cooperation diminished. Revised as “Gang Busters,” the show remained on the air until the late 1950s. The program’s spectacular opening, which included sirens, police whistles, gunshots and tires screeching, inspired the slang expression, “come on like gangbusters!”

6.  “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,” Andrews Sisters (1938)

This adapted English-language version of a popular song from a Yiddish musical by Jacob Jacobs and Sholom Secunda brought the Andrews Sisters to national attention and made them famous.  In the adapted version by Sammy Cahn, the only Yiddish retained was the song title (translation: To me, you are beautiful), a phrase which was repeated throughout the song.  Vic Schoen, the sisters’ bandleader and arranger, turned the new song into a swing sensation that showcased the girls’ close harmony singing and smooth vocal syncopations.

7.  “Que é Que a Bahiana Tem?,” Carmen Miranda (1939)

This recording, with its lively exchange between singer and dancer Carmen Miranda and the band, embodies the merriment of Brazilian Carnival songs. “Que é Que a Bahiana Tem?” (“What does the Bahian girl have?”) was an enormously successful recording in Brazil that celebrated Bahia culture at its roots and solidified samba’s hold on Brazilian popular music. The recording helped to introduce both the samba rhythm and Carmen Miranda to American audiences. It was also the first recording of a song by Dorival Caymmi, who went on to become a major composer and performer.

8.  NBC Radio coverage of Marian Anderson’s recital at the Lincoln Memorial (April 9, 1939)

By 1939, Marian Anderson had been hailed as the greatest contralto of her generation, yet she was refused the use of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. because she was an African-American. The ensuing controversy climaxed with her historic recital on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939. There she sang to an audience of over 75,000 people, with a national radio audience of millions more. Though brief newsreel excerpts of her brilliant performance have become familiar and even iconic since that time, the contemporary impact of this live, continuous radio coverage cannot be underestimated, and it is now our most complete documentation of this key event in the struggle for civil rights.

9.  “Tom Dooley,” Frank Profitt  (1940)

Frank Profitt (1913-1965) first sang the murder ballad “Tom Dula” for Frank and Anne Warner in 1938 in Beech Mountain, North Carolina. Proffitt recorded a portion of it for the Warners two years later, accompanying himself on a banjo of his own making. Although Profitt’s performance would not be commercially released until many years later, it provided the basis for Frank Warner’s national performances of the song as a singing folklorist and for the arrangement of the song, now known as “Tom Dooley,”  that appeared in John and Alan Lomax’s “Folk Song USA” songbook in 1948.

10.  “Uncle Sam Blues,” Oran “Hot Lips” Page, accompanied by Eddie Condon’s Jazz Band. V-Disc (1944)

During the 1940s, the United States was in the record business. The V-Disc label was created to boost morale by providing recordings of familiar American artists to service camps overseas as well as on the home front. The V-Disc program took on added significance when, owing to a dispute between the record labels and the musicians’ union over royalties, union musicians were forbidden to make commercial recordings. With the understanding that V-Discs would not be sold in the domestic market, the union permitted musicians to contribute their services for free so that some V-Disc releases could include fresh, new performances. Trumpeter Oran “Hot Lips” Page had played with the Bennie Moten Orchestra in Kansas City and was a featured performer with Artie Shaw during 1941-42. Page’s V-Disc recording of the “Uncle Sam Blues,” an ode to military conscription, must have resonated on both the war and home fronts.

11.  The Mary Margaret McBride Program, Zora Neale Hurston and Mary Margaret McBride, (January 25, 1943)

Zora Neale Hurston’s appearance on the Mary Margaret McBride program is a unique audio document of this vital African-American writer whose legacy continues to grow.  It is also a fine example of McBride’s widely heard and highly influential afternoon radio program at the peak of the host’s fame.  As a talk-show host, McBride pioneered the unscripted radio interview.  While her interview of Hurston sounds casual and folksy, it is a very informative and focused discussion of Hurston’s recent writings, her early life and education, and her ethnographic field work in Haiti and Jamaica.  It is filled with humorous stories and interesting observations.

12.  “Sinews of Peace” (Iron Curtain) Speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill (March 5, 1946)

Lamenting the deepening shadow of the Soviet Union’s occupation of Eastern Europe and fearing Soviet-directed, fifth-column activities in the West, Winston Churchill delivered this opening salvo of the Cold War at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.  The speech heralds an increasingly widespread feeling in the West that a tougher stance was needed toward Russia, a departure following the positive image that the country enjoyed as a wartime ally in World War II. Churchill famously pronounced that “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

13.  “The Churkendoose,” Ray Bolger (1947)

The Churkendoose is a children’s tale of tolerance, compassion and diversity, written by Ben Ross Berenberg for his daughter. The recording features the voice of Ray Bolger, music composed by Alec Wilder, and a supporting cast of farm animals. The Churkendoose, a creature who is part chicken, turkey, duck and goose, didn’t fit in at the farm. Rejected and ridiculed, he became a hero by saving the other animals from the fox.  Ultimately, the animals embrace the Churkendoose with genuine warmth and learn a valuable lesson about acceptance.

The Churkendoose, Decca DU 90006

 

14.  “Boogie Chillen,”  John Lee Hooker (1948)

This first hit for the largely self-taught John Lee Hooker showcases his take on the Delta blues.  Hooker was born in Coahoma County, Mississippi, spent his early years in Memphis and eventually moved to Detroit.   The R&B label Modern released the infectiously rhythmic track after Hooker’s manager presented them with a demo.  While the song’s instrumentation is simple, featuring only vocal, guitar and the tapping of Hooker’s foot, the driving rhythm and confessional lyrics have guaranteed its place as an influential and enduring blues classic.

15.  “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” Dylan Thomas (1952)

Part nostalgic childhood remembrance and part poetic incantation, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” was issued with five of Dylan Thomas’ poems on Caedmon Records’ first release.  According to the label’s co-founder Barbara Holdridge, Thomas arrived in the studio with insufficient material to fill an entire LP, but he remembered writing a Christmas story for Harper’s Bazaar. Holdridge and her business partner, Marianne Roney, were able to identify the piece as “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and obtained a copy from the magazine.  It became one of Caedmon’s most successful releases and has been credited with launching the audiobook industry in the United States.  “We had no idea of the power and beauty of this voice,” Holdridge said of Thomas’ reading, “We just expected a poet with a poet’s voice, but this was a full orchestral voice.”

16.  “A Festival of Lessons and Carols as Sung on Christmas Eve in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge,” King’s College Choir; Boris Ord, director (1954)

The annual Festival of Lessons and Carols by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, was introduced in 1918 to bring a new, imaginative approach to worship. The British Broadcasting Corporation began broadcasting the festival in 1928 and included it in BBC’s overseas shortwave schedule starting in the early 1930s.  Organist and choirmaster Boris Ord, who conducted the service most years between 1929 and 1957, is highly respected for the standards of musical excellence that he elicited from the choir. This 1954 Argo recording, published in the U.S. by Westminster Records, provided most Americans with their first opportunity to experience this beloved Christmas tradition, which has since become a seasonal mainstay in many American churches.

17.  “West Side Story,” original-cast recording (1957)

While there are over 40 recordings of the score to the Broadway show “West Side Story” in various languages and styles, the original-cast recording is in many ways unequaled. The orchestra was increased to 37 for the recording, but the performances of this rich score are visceral and passionate. Bernstein’s music—with its Latin, jazz, rock and classical influences—was arguably the most demanding score heard on Broadway up to that point. Boasting Stephen Sondheim’s first lyrics for a Broadway musical, the songs range from the passionate love song “Tonight,” through the social satire of “America” and “Gee, Officer Krupke,” to the anthem hoping for a better world, “Somewhere.”

18.  “Tom Dooley,” The Kingston Trio (1958)

The Kingston Trio recorded their version of “Tom Dooley” on their debut album for Capitol Records in early 1958. The song was already part of their regular set list and was also in the repertoire of other folk revivalists such as the Tarriers and the Gateway Trio. In spite of Dave Guard’s distinctive and dramatic opening narration, the song attracted little attention on its own until a Salt Lake City radio station began playing it heavily, prompting Capitol Records to place an 1866 murder ballad on a 45rpm record for the teenage market.  This sparked a modern-folk revival, the influence of which would be felt throughout American popular music.

19.  “Rumble,” Link Wray (1958)

Asked for a tune that kids could dance “The Stroll” to, Link Wray came up with this powerfully menacing guitar instrumental on the spot, and the crowd went wild, demanding encores. When he couldn’t recreate the distorted sound of his live version in a studio, Wray poked holes in his amp speakers, cranked up the tremolo, and was then able to capture what he wanted in three takes — for a cost of $57. Originally titled “Oddball,” it was renamed after the gang fights in “West Side Story” by a record producer’s daughter. Wray’s primal guitar influenced a generation of rockers including Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, the Kinks, Jimmy Page and Neil Young.  Bob Dylan called “Rumble” the “greatest instrumental ever.”  Pete Townshend said, “… if it hadn’t been for Link Wray and ‘Rumble,’ I would have never picked up a guitar.”

20.  “The Play of Daniel: A Twelfth-Century Drama,” New York Pro Musica under the direction of Noah Greenberg (1958)

Determined to change contemporary attitudes towards early music, Noah Greenberg founded New York Pro Musica, a performing ensemble of singers and instrumentalists in 1952, and found great success with performances of medieval, Renaissance and baroque music. Pro Musica introduced audiences to relatively neglected genres of music and influenced many early-music ensembles. His 1958 recording of “The Play of Daniel,” a 12th century liturgical drama, exemplifies the best of his work.  It is a joyful approach to the repertoire, early use of authentic instruments, and outstanding performances by the musicians under his direction.

21. “At Last!,” Etta James (1961)

Etta James’ recording of “At Last” is widely acknowledged as a “crossover” masterpiece. The song was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the 1941 Glenn Miller film, “Orchestra Wives.”  It became the title track on the first album that James recorded for Leonard and Phil Chess in 1961.  In the producers’ attempt to widen Jones’ audience and sales, the album features many jazz and pop standards in addition to blues, which had been the focus of James’ work until that time.  Her sultry, blues-inflected approach to “At Last” –  set in a brilliant strings and rhythm section arrangement by Riley Hampton –  transcends genre, like all great crossover interpretations.

Etta James. CD booklet:  Etta James: the Chess Box, MCA/Chess Records 088 112 288-2
 

22.  “Rank Stranger,” Stanley Brothers (1960)

The Stanley Brothers, one of the premier bands of the formative days of bluegrass, included sacred songs as a featured part of their performances. Their recording of “Rank Stranger,” written by famed gospel songwriter Albert E. Brumley Sr. and sung with reverence and simplicity in the traditional mountain style, shows why the Stanley Brothers continue to influence performers today.  Carter Stanley’s masterful handling of the verses and his brother Ralph’s soaring tenor refrain produce a distinctive duet. The spare accompaniment of unamplified guitar and mandolin and the emotional call-and-response style vocals heighten the emotional anguish of the lyric.

23.  “2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks,” Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (1961)

The secret to living 2000 years? “Never touch fried foods!” In their party routine first performed for friends, Mel Brooks played a 2000-year-old man, while Carl Reiner, as the straight man, interviewed him. After much convincing, the two writers for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” recorded their ad-libbed dialogue for a 1961 album. Interview subjects ranged from marriage (“I was married over 200 times!”) and children (“I have over 1500 children and not one of them ever comes to visit!”) to transportation (“What was the means of transportation? Fear.”).

24.  “The Who Sings My Generation,” The Who (1966)

On their first album, The Who, assisted by The Kinks’ producer Shel Talmy, laid down a set of tracks that would include both enduring classics and mainstays of their later concert performances.  Pete Townshend penned the rebellious title track, “My Generation,” which features John Entwistle playing one of the earliest bass leads in rock. The song is also known for Townshend’s proto-punk, two-chord guitar riff with distortion and feedback. The album was billed as “maximum R&B” and it included Bo Diddley and James Brown covers.  However, it primarily marked Pete Townshend’s assumption of main songwriting duties for the band. Keith Moon, the band’s legendary drummer, is featured on “The Ox,” a song they would continue to play live throughout their career.

The Who Sings My Generation, MCA/Decca 088 112 926-2
 

25.  “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” George Jones (1980)

George Jones has said that he initially thought “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was too sad to be very popular, but, at one of the lowest points of his career and personal life, he made it one of country music’s defining and most enduring songs. Billy Sherrill’s restrained production highlighted the plaintive yet highly nuanced vocals that were the hallmark of Jones’ mature style, but which stretched back to his days singing for tips in the streets of his hometown, Beaumont, Texas, in the 1940s.

Sound clips from the newly added recordings are featured in the below montage.