Les Paul & Mary Ford
Les Paul and Mary Ford were a popular 1950s husband-and-wife duo, in which Les Paul played guitar and sang (sometimes) and Mary Ford sang and played guitar. In 1951 alone, they sold six million records.
Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss, June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009) and Mary Ford (Iris Colleen Summers, July 7, 1924 – September 30, 1977) were introduced to each other by Gene Autry in 1946 and married in 1949.
They first appeared in the pop charts in 1950. Read Full BioLes Paul and Mary Ford were a popular 1950s husband-and-wife duo, in which Les Paul played guitar and sang (sometimes) and Mary Ford sang and played guitar. In 1951 alone, they sold six million records.
Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss, June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009) and Mary Ford (Iris Colleen Summers, July 7, 1924 – September 30, 1977) were introduced to each other by Gene Autry in 1946 and married in 1949.
They first appeared in the pop charts in 1950. Between the years 1950 and 1954, Les Paul and Mary Ford had 16 top-ten hits. They had five top-ten hits within nine months. "Tennessee Waltz", "Mockin' Bird Hill", "How High the Moon" (#1 for nine weeks), "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" and "Whispering". From August 1952 to March 1953 they had five more top-ten hits; "My Baby's Coming Home", "Lady of Spain", "Bye Bye Blues", "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" and "Vaya Con Dios" (#1 for 11 weeks). Their 1954 version of "I'm a Fool to Care" went to #6, and was featured in a memorable Southern Comfort commercial in 2013 that got over 1 million views on YouTube.
In 2009, they were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Les Paul and Mary Ford are famous for creating a makeshift recording studio in their garage. In their garage studio, they used multitrack recording to record many of their hits including ‘Lover’, ‘Nola’, ‘Brazil’ and ‘Whispering' with only the two of them.
YouTube has a large selection of clips from their syndicated TV show "Les Paul & Mary Ford At Home" (1954-'55).
Les Paul and Mary Ford divorced acrimoniously in December 1964, which also ended the collaboration between the two.
The duo have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Les Paul had hosted a 15-minute radio program, The Les Paul Show, on NBC in 1950, featuring his trio (himself, Ford, and rhythm player Eddie Stapleton) and his electronics, recorded from their home and with gentle humour between Paul and Ford bridging musical selections, some of which had already been successful on records, some of which anticipated the couple's recordings, and many of which presented dazzling re-interpretations of such jazz and pop selections as "In the Mood," "Little Rock Getaway," "Brazil," and "Tiger Rag." Several recordings of these shows survive among old-time radio collectors today.
The show also appeared on television a few years later with the same format, but excluding the trio and retitled The Les Paul & Mary Ford Show (aka Les Paul & Mary Ford At Home) with "Vaya Con Dios" as a theme song. Sponsored by Warner Lambert's Listerine, it was widely syndicated during 1954–55 and was only five minutes long (one or two songs) on film and therefore used as a brief interlude or fill-in on programming schedules. Since Les created the entire show himself, including audio and video, he maintained the original recordings and was in the process of restoring them to up-to-date quality at the time of his death.
Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss, June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009) and Mary Ford (Iris Colleen Summers, July 7, 1924 – September 30, 1977) were introduced to each other by Gene Autry in 1946 and married in 1949.
They first appeared in the pop charts in 1950. Read Full BioLes Paul and Mary Ford were a popular 1950s husband-and-wife duo, in which Les Paul played guitar and sang (sometimes) and Mary Ford sang and played guitar. In 1951 alone, they sold six million records.
Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss, June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009) and Mary Ford (Iris Colleen Summers, July 7, 1924 – September 30, 1977) were introduced to each other by Gene Autry in 1946 and married in 1949.
They first appeared in the pop charts in 1950. Between the years 1950 and 1954, Les Paul and Mary Ford had 16 top-ten hits. They had five top-ten hits within nine months. "Tennessee Waltz", "Mockin' Bird Hill", "How High the Moon" (#1 for nine weeks), "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" and "Whispering". From August 1952 to March 1953 they had five more top-ten hits; "My Baby's Coming Home", "Lady of Spain", "Bye Bye Blues", "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" and "Vaya Con Dios" (#1 for 11 weeks). Their 1954 version of "I'm a Fool to Care" went to #6, and was featured in a memorable Southern Comfort commercial in 2013 that got over 1 million views on YouTube.
In 2009, they were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Les Paul and Mary Ford are famous for creating a makeshift recording studio in their garage. In their garage studio, they used multitrack recording to record many of their hits including ‘Lover’, ‘Nola’, ‘Brazil’ and ‘Whispering' with only the two of them.
YouTube has a large selection of clips from their syndicated TV show "Les Paul & Mary Ford At Home" (1954-'55).
Les Paul and Mary Ford divorced acrimoniously in December 1964, which also ended the collaboration between the two.
The duo have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Les Paul had hosted a 15-minute radio program, The Les Paul Show, on NBC in 1950, featuring his trio (himself, Ford, and rhythm player Eddie Stapleton) and his electronics, recorded from their home and with gentle humour between Paul and Ford bridging musical selections, some of which had already been successful on records, some of which anticipated the couple's recordings, and many of which presented dazzling re-interpretations of such jazz and pop selections as "In the Mood," "Little Rock Getaway," "Brazil," and "Tiger Rag." Several recordings of these shows survive among old-time radio collectors today.
The show also appeared on television a few years later with the same format, but excluding the trio and retitled The Les Paul & Mary Ford Show (aka Les Paul & Mary Ford At Home) with "Vaya Con Dios" as a theme song. Sponsored by Warner Lambert's Listerine, it was widely syndicated during 1954–55 and was only five minutes long (one or two songs) on film and therefore used as a brief interlude or fill-in on programming schedules. Since Les created the entire show himself, including audio and video, he maintained the original recordings and was in the process of restoring them to up-to-date quality at the time of his death.
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How High the Moon
Les Paul & Mary Ford Lyrics
Somewhere there's music
How faint the tune
Somewhere there's heaven
How high the moon
There is no moon above
When love is far away too
Till it comes true
That you love me as I love you
Somewhere there's music
How near, how far
Somewhere there's heaven
It's where you are
The darkest night would shine
If you would come to me soon
Until you will, how still my heart
How high the moon
Somewhere there's music
How faint the tune
Somewhere there's heaven
How high the moon
The darkest night would shine
If you would come to me soon
Until you will, how still my heart
How high the moon
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MORGAN LEWIS, NANCY HAMILTON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them
Vanenghruaitluanga
Somewhere there's music
How faint the tune
Somewhere there's heaven
How high the moon
There is no moon above
Love is far away too
'Til it comes true
That you love me as I love you
Somewhere there's music
How near, how far
Somewhere there's heaven
It's where you are
The darkest night would shine
If you would come to me soon
Until you will, how still my heart
How high the moon
Aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah
Somewhere there's music
How faint the tune
Somewhere there's heaven
How high the moon
The darkest night would shine
If you would come to me soon
Until you will, how still my heart
How high the moon
RJ McAllister
1951. Mary would often record her vocals in the kitchen while Les worked the guitar and tape machines in the garage. Music far ahead of its time, and always give Mary Ford the respect she deserves.
Lionheart Roar
The birth of electric rock and roll
Jody Wilke
A lovely song--and amazingly talented people. RIP, Les and Mary.😔⛪
Jkr K
this isn't rock and roll or rockabilly at all, but it fits in perfectly in that time era and I love it a lot. look at a video how he did record this song, it is amazing how he did that, and the voice of Mary tops it all, they don't make music like this today.
burteriksson
Robert Berryman — Thanks! I remember LoYC vaguely. I was 13 in '93... I must definitely watch it. Thanks.
Things start to come to my mind... This was shown here on TV back in the day and it was re-run too. I remember that my mother watched it. I've definitely seen some of it too, but it's been a long, long time.
Robert Berryman
burteriksson when you mentioned the UK, it immediately reminded me of the British TV movie-musical that made Ewan McGregor a star: ‘Lipstick On Your Collar’. Assuming you have not seen it, LOYC was an unusual musical in that it did not include any original music. Instead, it featured a lot of early rock hits lip-synced by the characters. The premise is that McGregor’s character often gets bored at work and daydreams these performances involving himself and co-workers. I’ll link you to my favorite from the movie, Mickey & Sylvia’s ‘Love Is Strange’, and if you like it I would encourage you to search “LOYC” and find some of the other songs...
https://youtu.be/M5p9fpGxv48
burteriksson
Robert Berryman — Haha! Yes, you definitely need to turn up the volume to enjoy music to its full extent. You don't hear it the same way on lower volume. No, you don't feel it the same way.
"Rock around the Clock" was a theme song for a TV show here some thirty years ago. That's when I heard it. Then there was a group of thee DJs and producers from the UK called Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers who made a megamix out of old rock & swing records and it became a huge global success. I still like to listen to it. Those three guys went on to become very successful and well-known DJs.
I'm mostly into electronic music – techno, house, trance and such – but I've always appreciated good rock 'n' roll as well. That's the music I heard in our home as a little kid: Elvis, Hugo Montenegro/Ennio Morricone, Simon & Garfunkel... At very young age I became interesed in synthesizer music: Jean-Michel Jarre, italo-disco and that kind of stuff. The music on the computer games (Commodore 64) also influenced me greatly. The soundtrack of a game was always a big part of the experience for me.
I din't see "American Graffiti" until just rather recently. It was a nice movie, indeed. I'm really into these teen movies from the 80s, so AG hit pretty close to that. It's really strange I hadn't seen it before.
Robert Berryman
burteriksson I had an aunt, now deceased, who took me and her son to the cinema back about 1972 to see ‘American Graffiti’. That was the first time I heard ‘Rock Around The Clock’. I was so taken with it and some of the other songs that I began saving my money and soon bought the soundtrack album. Some time later, that same aunt told me that she and a lot of other kids loved the song so much that when ‘Blackboard Jungle’ was in cinemas, they’d pay to go see it and leave right after the opening credits. She said the cinema manager threw a fit about it a few times but there was not much he could do to stop them. She said there was really no other way to hear the song cranked up loud, and sounding much better than AM radio or the common record players of the day.
burteriksson
Robert Berryman — Fats Domino is a name I recognize. And Bill Haley is another one. "Rock around the Clock" must be a song that everyone born in the 80s knows. But younger kids... I don't know about them. I'm not sure they even know who Elvis is!
tanshaomala
Came here from "The birth of loud"