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Cultural History Across Borders

Lyrics

Genius.com: Artists
Large collection of transcribed lyrics from rap and other artists.

Sound Collections

The National Jukebox
Recordings from the collections of the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center and other contributing libraries and archives, including more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925.
Smithsonian Global Sound
Over 3000 online audio recordings (over 45,000 tracks) of American folk, blues, bluegrass, jazz, spoken word, and world music. Rutgers-restricted Access
DRAM: Database of Recorded American Music
CD quality audio, complete and original liner notes and essays from New World Records, Composers Recordings, Inc. (CRI) and other important labels. Over 1,200 complete CDs (7,500 compositions). Rutgers-restricted Access
University of Wisconsis-Madison 78-RPM Recordings Collection
Over 2,400 78-rpm recordings commercially produced for immigrant, ethnic, indigenous, and regional audiences by American record companies in the first half of the 20th century. Some collection records include full transcriptions and translations of the linguistic content.
Internet Archive: Audio Archive
Over 15,000,000 recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by users. Many of these audios and MP3s are available for free download.
The Freedom Archives
"Over 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings which date from the late-1960s to the mid-90s and chronicle the progressive history of the Bay Area, the United States, and international movements...Our collection includes weekly news, poetry, music programs; in-depth interviews and reports on social and cultural issues; numerous voices from behind prison walls; diverse activists; and pamphlets, journals and other materials from many radical organizations and movements."