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The Sounds of America: The Super Mario Bros. theme song

Winifred Phillips is a video game music composer. She describes this history-making entry into the National Recording Registry as, “one of the, if not the most memorable game music melodies ever created.”

The audio that’s selected for the Registry is based on their historical, cultural or aesthetic importance to American society. The registry includes all kinds of audio: from music and radio broadcasts, to speeches, audiobooks, and comedy performances.

Today, we profile music that was composed for a video game. The original Super Mario Brothers  was released by Nintendo in 1985 on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

To help tell the story behind the Super Mario Brothers video game theme music, we speak to its composer Koji Kondo, Super Mario actor Charles Martinet, video game music composer Winifred Phillips, and author Jeff Ryan.

Want to add a recording you think should be added to the National Recording Registry? Your nomination must meet three conditions; there needs to be an existing physical copy of the recording, it must be at least ten years old, and it has to have had some significant impact on American culture. Just send the library an email recregistry@loc.gov

The Sounds of America is produced by Jennie Cataldo for Accompany Studios.

Copyright 2023 WAMU 88.5

Rupert Allman