25 for the Ages.

• Position: National Recording Registry

Librarian of Congress Carta Hayden annually names 25 recordings as audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical, or aesthetic importance in the nation's recorded sound heritage. Here are this year's National Recording Registry selections: "Harlem Strut," James P. Johnson (1921) (single). Johnson (1894-1955), a native of New Brunswick, N J., was one of the creators of the jazz piano style known as "Harlem Stride," which fused elements of ragtime with an active left hand that provided a bass characterized by wide leaps, or "strides." "Harlem Strut," a multi-strain work and a Johnson original, was his first recorded selection, although he did cut piano rolls prior. This recording, along with Eubie Blake's "Sounds of Africa," lays claim to being die first recordings of Harlem Stride piano. Today, Johnson is best remembered as the composer of "The Charleston" and as the mentor of pianist and composer Thomas "Fats" Waller.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: Complete Presidential Speeches (1933-45). The most famous speeches by FDR are tied to singular events, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor, but many of his most influential addresses actually were made on otherwise mundane occasions in the 1930s, such as his tour of a flood control project in 1936, when he delivered the blistering "I Hate War" speech, anticipating World War II.

Others reverberate in our time for different reasons, such as when he spoke on behalf of the campaign against polio, now nearly eradicated but a dreaded scourge in that era of which he was the disease's most famous victim. His speeches are far more than sources for historical soundbites, they are defining political and social texts of their day that form a narrative of the 12 years of his presidency and of a historical epoch.

"Walking the Floor Over You," Ernest Tubb (1941) (single). If "Walking the Floor Over You" was not the first honky-tonk hit in country music, it certainly is on the short list. Recorded by 'Texas Troubadour" Ernest Tubb on April 26,1941, at Bunny Biggs' studio in Dallas, Texas, it was notable for the prominence of an electric guitar, played by Fay "Smitty" Smith. Although Bob Wills had used an electric guitar as early as 1935, Wills did so in the context of his large, Western swing group, the Texas Playboys. Reportedly, Tubb wanted to include an electric guitar so his records would sound louder on jukeboxes and be heard above the din of roadhouses and honky tonks, the noisy, sometimes rowdy clubs that gave the genre its name. So, the use of electric or steel guitar in songs like "Walking the Floor" signified not the first appearance of those instruments in country music, but rather the emergence of a new style.

"Walking the Floor Over You" not only was a hit, it was influential far beyond the confines of country music, begetting covers by artists as diverse as Bing Crosby, Georgia Gibbs, Pat Boone, and Brook Benton. Tubb himself recorded the song several times, but it is this 1941 performance, originally released as Decca 5958, that generally is regarded as the classic.

"On a Note of Triumph" (May 8,1945). Writer Norman Corwin's radio tribute to the Bill of Rights, "We Hold These Truths," was heard by the largest radio audience to date in December 1941, a people searching for affirmation in the wake of their country's entry into World War II. Three and a half years later, "On a Note of Triumph," his salute to the Allied victory in Europe, aired the evening of V-E Day, May 8,1945. An enormous audience tuned in again, and an encore performance aired five days later and was issued as a record album. The script of the program was rushed into bookstores within a week of the first performance.

The 60-minute production was anchored by the passionate narration of Martin Gabel, who led a sonic tour of the years leading up to the war, its battlefields, and the homes of ordinary people. The title aptly describes the program's thunderous opening and proclamation of victory. The tone changes, however, and voices are heard asking questions like "What do we know now that we didn't know before?" and "What do we do now?" Although not a subtle work like its predecessor, "On a Note of Triumph" filled a deep need for its audience.

"Jesus Gave Me Water," The Soul Stirrers (1950) (single). "Jesus Gave Me Water" comes from the first studio session of a young Chicago gospel singer named Sam Cook, seven years before he added an "e" to his last name and gained worldwide fame in pop and R&B. Cook was 19, with only about 18 months of professional experience on the local gospel scene, and had been chosen to replace the much loved and respected leader of the group, RH. Harris.

Without Harris, the group's future was uncertain, but the combination of its three veteran members with Cook and another recent addition, tenor Paul Foster, was a winner. Cook's deceptively gentle, mellifluous voice was a new sound in the music, and drew younger audiences back to gospel programs in droves. Cook excelled at songs that told a story, and "Jesus Gave Me Water" recounts a key event in the life of Jesus, his encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, and the lesson of living water he reveals to her. "Jesus Gave Me Water" sold strongly for the Specialty label in the spring of 1950, reestablishing The Soul Stirrers as a premier group and launching one of American music's greatest artists.

"Ellington at Newport," Duke Ellington (1956) (album). After enduring a decade of waning record sales, Duke Ellington reignited his career via one single solo recorded in 1956. After...