# What's the oldest recording on your iPod or MP3 player? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499 "2010-09-03T15:38:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/1 "2010-09-03T15:38:09Z")
I have several of Jelly Roll Morton’s wonderful jazz and ragtime recordings, done for musicologist Alan Lomax at the Library of Congress in May 1938. Poor audio quality but great tunes. And you? ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/2 "2010-09-03T15:54:18Z")
Billie Holiday’s recording of ‘What A Little Moonlight Can Do’, from 1935. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/3 "2010-09-03T15:56:15Z")
Probably King Oliver’s ‘Dippermouth Blues’ from 1923. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/4 "2010-09-03T16:00:32Z")
Robert Johnson from 1936. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/5 "2010-09-03T16:02:20Z")
Probably my few Abbott & Costello tracks. I don’t have exact dates for the recordings, but Who’s On First was first performed in 1938. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/6 "2010-09-03T16:04:12Z")
It appears to be a 1914 recording of Irving Berlin singing “What Am I Gonna Do?” from [this](http://www.amazon.com/Avenue-Great-White-Way-1914-1950/dp/B00006640B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1283529435&sr=1-1) excellent compilation. However, when I pick up [this series](http://www.amazon.com/1890s-Wipe-Him-Off-Land/dp/B000068RMZ/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=ILIE18JLZB1JL&colid=1S2OUJZUK87RO) off my wish list, I’ll have stuff from the 1890s! In fact, I want everything on [this](http://www.archeophone.com/index.php) web site. Everything. **Elendil’s Heir** , I have those Library of Congress Jelly Roll Morton recordings too! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/7 "2010-09-03T16:05:50Z")
[Louis Armstrong & King Oliver](http://www.amazon.com/Louis-Armstrong-And-King-Oliver/dp/B000UBJV40) recordings from 1923. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/8 "2010-09-03T16:33:11Z")
No, I was wrong – I have _Berkeley March_ by Cullen and Collins from 1898. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/9 "2010-09-03T16:36:28Z")
ON my player? Black Betty, Leadbelly, 1939. And Looky Looky Yonder. In MP3 form? Have to check when I get home. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/10 "2010-09-03T16:50:31Z")
I have several phonoautograph recordings dating from between 1857 and 1861 on my mp3 player (the recovered Scott de Martinville phonautograms), the Lambert’s ‘Speaking clock’ (1878), and a number of early recordings from the 1880s onwards. The oldest stuff is for classroom and research purposes, although the old stuff from the Edison era is a fun listen now and again. If you’re talking of modern covers of oldies, I’ve got shedloads of medieval stuff lying around here, monophonic and polyphonic chant, motets, all the hot sounds of the 8th century onwards’s chart. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/11 "2010-09-03T16:54:19Z")
Probably “Surfin’” by the Beach Boys (1961). Earliest written - Gregorian chants, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/12 "2010-09-03T17:02:27Z")
Cousins & DeMoss, “Poor Mourner” – 1897. I had a notion to poke around and find an even older recording (one that wasn’t Thomas Edison’s assistant sneezing or something), but haven’t yet. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/13 "2010-09-03T17:54:35Z")
Some recordings by Scott Joplin. I don’t know the actual date of the recordings, but he died in 1917. Also some early Lead Belly, dates unknown. And do piano rolls count? I’ve got some from around the turn of the century. (Not having a player piano, it’s kinda hard to get them on my iPod.) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/14 "2010-09-03T18:14:25Z")
**panache45** , the Joplin recordings were made from piano rolls, as he never made any discs or cylinder recordings. So I guess piano rolls do count. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/15 "2010-09-03T18:18:06Z")
I win the youngest-oldest recorded for now, with Best of Gerry and the Pacemakers, some of which is as early as 1963. But like a previous poster, I also have some Gregorian Chants. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/16 "2010-09-03T18:22:08Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I win the youngest-oldest recorded for now, with Best of Gerry and the Pacemakers, some of which is as early as 1963. Tie. Mine is\* Eight Foot Two, Solid Blue\*, by Allan Sherman (1963). ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/17 "2010-09-03T18:22:55Z")
Gracie Fields “Alexander Ragtime Band” from the late 30s ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/18 "2010-09-03T18:23:52Z")
I’ve got a wax Edison recording of \*Don’t Forget the Salvation (My Doughnut Girl)\*\*, written by Arthur Fields, recorded on an Edison Blue Amberol 3796 in 1919. \*This is in keeping with my Fried Dough obsession ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/19 "2010-09-03T18:26:30Z")
I’ve a few BBC news broadcasts from earlier, but music-wise it’s some Ligeti from 1942. Actually, on the edit, the oldest non-news thing I have is Welles’ War of the Worlds from 1938. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499/20 "2010-09-03T18:37:02Z")
I have [“Rocket 88”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbfnh1oVTk0) by Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm, with vocals sung by Jackie Brenston. It was recorded in 1951 and credited by Sam Phillips, at whose studio it was recorded, as the first rock and roll song. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-recording-on-your-ipod-or-mp3-player/552499.md?page=2)