Jimmy Buffett and John Denver Hits Inducted Into National Recording Registry
The National Recording Registry has announced its 2023 induction class. Two of the 25 songs and albums (dating back to 1908) that will be forever enshrined are Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville" and John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads."
Each year, 25 pieces of audio are selected by the National Recording Registry to be preserved in the Library of Congress because they have "aesthetic, historic or cultural significance" and reach outside of the musical realm.
For example, a recording of Martin Luther King's 1963 speech "I Have a Dream" is in the Registry.
Buffett released "Margaritaville" in 1977 and has had the nation searching for that lost shaker of salt ever since. The song was featured on his album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes. The inspiration was a frozen drink Buffett was once served at an Austin, Texas, restaurant called Lung's Cocina del Sur. He would later finish the track while visiting Key West, Fla.
The beachy smash was Buffett's highest charting single, although it never reached No. 1. The song peaked at No. 13 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and No. 1 on the publication's Hot 100 chart. It's a song that has defined 76-year-old Buffett's career.
Denver released "Take Me Home, Country Roads" in 1971 off his Poems, Prayers & Promises album. He wrote the track alongside Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert — the original idea for the song came after a drive on some very small country roads in Maryland. Denver got involved creatively and upon completion, dedicated it to his next studio project.
The song would peak at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. It became one of Denver's most popular songs and was certified Platinum in 2017. Also known as simply "Country Roads," the track has become one of the official anthems for West Virginia because of its lyrical ode to the state.