Donna Summer’s techno hit “I Feel Love” to be preserved as cultural treasure

PanARMENIAN.Net - Six days after her death, Donna Summer’s futuristic techno hit “I Feel Love” has been selected for induction into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Marking the 10th anniversary of the registry, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington selected Summer’s 1977 hit song and 24 other sound recordings to be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures for generations.

Also among this year’s class of inductees are Dolly Parton’s autobiographical “Coat of Many Colors” from 1971; Prince and the Revolution’s soundtrack to Purple Rain; Leonard Bernstein’s debut performance with the New York Philharmonic in 1943; the 1912 “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star,” the only surviving recording of Lillian Russell, one of the greatest stars of the American musical stage; a 1977 concert recording from The Grateful Dead; an album from TV’s A Charlie Brown Christmas; and the pioneering 1979 hip-hop classic “Rapper’s Delight” from The Sugarhill Gang.

The selections span the years 1888 to 1984 and bring the total number of recordings to 350. Summer, the disco queen who died May 17 at age 63, recorded “I Feel Love” for release in summer 1977 on Casablanca Records. With its synthesized backing track and Summer’s “breathy and ethereal vocal,” as the Library of Congress describes it, the song reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.