There is a story, maybe apocryphal but I hope it’s true, that while discussing the contents of this album, someone suggested to Carl Sagan that JS Bach’s music be included.
Sagan responded that he would rather Bach not be on the album. When asked why, he said “That would just be showing off.”
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I hope that was a joke. There are at least 3 pieces from Bach on the record.
List below, along with all other music titles:
Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F.
Java, court gamelan, “Kinds of Flowers.”
Senegal, percussion
Zaire, Pygmy girls’ initiation song
Australia, Aborigine songs, “Morning Star” and “Devil Bird,”
Mexico, “El Cascabel,”
“Johnny B. Goode,” written and performed by Chuck Berry.
New Guinea, men’s house song
Japan, shakuhachi, “Tsuru No Sugomori” (”Crane’s Nest,”)
Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin
Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14.
Georgian S.S.R., chorus, “Tchakrulo,”
Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima.
“Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven.
Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes,
Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance
Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1.
Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement
Bulgaria, “Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin,”
Navajo Indians, Night Chant
Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs, “The Fairie Round,”
Solomon Islands, panpipes
Peru, wedding song
China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams”
India, raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho”
“Dark Was the Night,” written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson.
Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina
It was a joke on Sagan’s part. That was the point. :)
What, no Slim Whitman?