Washington — Judy Garland singing "Over the Rainbow" and Bing Crosby dreaming of a "White Christmas" top the 365 "Songs of the Century" announced Wednesday by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Recording Industry Association of America.
The list is designed as a way for schools to teach the appreciation of how music is developed, they said in a joint statement.
1 Over the Rainbow Judy Garland
2 White Christmas Bing Crosby
3 This Land is Your Land Woody Guthrie
4 Respect Aretha Franklin
5 American Pie Don McLean
6 Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy The Andrews Sisters
7 West Side Story Original Cast
8 Take Me Out To The Ball Game Billy Murray
9 You've Lost That Lovin Feelin The Righteous Brothers
10 The Entertainer Scott Joplin
An NEA official said the songs also could open a window on social and economic conditions of the times when they appeared. They are almost all American popular songs.
The top 20 cover a wide variety of compositions.
Among them are "Mack the Knife" from Kurt Weill's "Threepenny Opera," Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer," the entire score of Leonard Bernstein's musical "West Side Story" and John Philip Sousa's march "The Stars and Stripes Forever," played by his band.
Scholastic Inc., a publisher of textbooks, will furnish teaching material to be ready in the autumn for free distribution to teachers.
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