Biography
Paul, born Lester William Polsfuss (the last name simplified later by his mother to Polfus) in Waukesha, Wisconsin, first became interested in music at the age of eight, when he began playing the harmonica. After an attempt at learning to play the banjo, Paul began to play the guitar. By 13, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist. At the age of 17, Paul played with Rube Tronson's Cowboys. Soon after, he dropped out of high school to join Wolverton's Radio Band in St. Louis, Missouri on KMOX.
In the 1930s, Paul worked in Chicago, Illinois in radio, where he performed jazz music. Paul's first two records were released in 1936. One album was credited to Rhubarb Red, Paul's hillbilly alter ego, and the other was in the backing band for blues artist Georgia White.
Les Paul's 'The Log', one of the first solidbody electric guitars.Paul was unsatisfied by the electric guitars that were sold in the mid 1930s and began experimenting with a few designs of his own. Famously, he created The Log which was nothing more than a length of common "4 by 4" fence post with bridge, guitar neck, and pickup attached. For appearances he attached the body of an Epiphone jazz guitar, sawn lengthwise with The Log in the middle. This solved his two main problems - feedback, as the acoustic body no longer resonated with the amplified sound, and sustain, as the energy of the strings was not dissipated in generating sound through the guitar body.
In 1938, Paul moved to New York and landed a featured spot with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians radio show. Paul moved to Hollywood in 1943, where he formed a new trio. As a last-minute replacement for Oscar Moore, Paul played with Nat King Cole and other artists in the inaugural Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in Los Angeles on July 2, 1944. Also that year, Paul's trio appeared on Bing Crosby's radio show. Crosby went on to sponsor Paul's recording experiments. The two also recorded together several times, including a 1945 number one hit, "It's Been a Long, Long Time." In addition to backing Crosby and artists like the Andrews Sisters, Paul's trio also recorded a few albums of their own in the late 1940s.
In 1941, Paul designed and built one of the first solid-body electric guitars (though Leo Fender also independently invented his own solid-body electric guitar around the same time, and Adolph Rickenbacker had marketed a solid-body guitar in the 30s). Gibson Guitar Corporation designed a guitar incorporating Paul's suggestions in the early fifties, and presented it to him to try. He was impressed enough to sign a contract for what became the "Les Paul" model (originally only in a "gold top" version), and agreed never to be seen playing in public, or photographed with, anything other than a Gibson guitar. That persisted until 1961, when Gibson changed the design without Paul's knowledge. He said he first saw the "new" Gibson Les Paul in a music store window, and disliked it. Though contract required him to pose with the guitar, he said it was not "his" instrument, and asked Gibson to remove his name from the headstock. Gibson renamed the guitar the " SG", and it also became one of the company's best sellers. Later, Paul resumed his relationship with Gibson, and endorses the instrument even today (though his personal Gibson Les Pauls are much modified by him - Paul always uses his own self-wound pickups on his guitars). To this day, the Gibson Les Paul guitar is used all over the world, both by novice and professional guitarists.
In 1947, Capitol Records released a recording that had begun as an experiment in Paul's garage, entitled "Lover (When You're Near Me)", which featured Paul playing eight different parts on electric guitar, some of them recorded at half-speed, hence "double-fast" when played back at normal speed for the master. This was the first time that multi-tracking had been used in a recording. Amazingly, these recordings were made, not with magnetic tape, but with wax disks. Paul would record a track onto a disk, then record himself playing another part with the first. He built the multi-track recording with overlaid tracks, rather than parallel ones as he did later. There is no record of how few 'takes' were needed before he was satisfied with one layer and moved onto the next.
Paul even built his own wax-cutter assembly, based on auto parts. He favored the flywheel from a Cadillac for its weight and flatness. Even in these early days, he used the wax disk setup to record parts at different speeds and with delay, resulting in his signature sound with echoes and birdsong-like guitar riffs. When he later began using magnetic tape, the major change was that he could take his recording rig on tour with him, even making episodes for his 15-minute radio show in his hotel room.
Paul was injured in a near-fatal automobile accident in January 1948 in Oklahoma, which shattered his right arm and elbow. Paul spent a year and a half recovering. Paul instructed the surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar.
In the early 1950s, Paul made a number of revolutionary recordings with wife, Mary Ford. These records were unique for their heavy use of overdubbing, which was technically impossible before Paul's invention of multitrack recording. Paul's multitracking system was made possible by the introduction of reel-to-reel audio tape recording, developed by Jack Mullin and the Ampex company in the late 1940s, with the backing of radio, film and recording star Bing Crosby.
Crosby gave Les Paul what was only the second of the now-famous Ampex Model 200 recorder, which was the world's first commercially-produced reel-to-reel tape recorder. Using this machine, Paul developed his tape multitrack system by adding an additional recording head and extra circuitry, allowing multiple tracks to be recorded separately and asynchronously on the same tape. Paul's invention was quickly developed by Ampex into commercially-produced two-track and three-track recorders, and these machines were the backbone of the professional recording studio, radio and TV industry in the 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1954 Paul, continued to develop this technology, by commissioning Ampex to build the first eight track tape recorder, at his expense. His idea, later known as "Sel-Sync," in which a specially-modified recording head could simultaneously record a new track and play back previously recorded ones, was the core technology for multi-track recording for the next thirty years.
During his early radio shows, Paul introduced the mythical "Les Paulverizer" device, which was supposed to multiply anything fed into it, like a guitar sound or a voice. This even became the subject of comedy, with Mary Ford multiplying herself and her vacuum cleaner with it so she could finish the housework faster (a typical joke in the pre-feminist era). Later Paul made the myth real for his stage show, using hidden equipment which over the years has become smaller and more visible. Currently he uses a small box attached to his guitar - it is not known how much of the device remains off-stage. He typically lays down one track after another on stage, in-sync, and then plays over the repeating forms he has recorded. With newer digital sound technology, such an effect is available commercially.
In the late 1960s, Paul went into semi-retirement, although he did return to the studio occasionally. He recorded an album Lester and Chester with Chet Atkins. He and Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Summers) divorced amicably in December 1964, as she could no longer tolerate the itinerant lifestyle their act required of them.
In 1978, Les Paul and Mary Ford were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. He received a Grammy Trustees Award for his lifetime achievements in 1983. In 1988, Paul was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Jeff Beck, who said, "I've copied more licks from Les Paul than I'd like to admit." Les Paul was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005 for his development of the solid-body electric guitar.
As of 2006, At the age of 90, Les Paul won two Grammys at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards for his album Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played. He also performs weekly at the Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway in New York City, despite the arthritis that has stilled all but two of the fingers on his left hand.
Source: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Paul
Blue Hawaii
Les Paul Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The night is heavenly and you are heaven to me
Lovely you and Blue Hawaii
With all this loveliness there should be love
Come with me while the moon is on the sea
The night is young and so are we, so are we
Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii
And mine could all come true this magic night of nights with you
The night is young and so are we (so are we)
Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii
And mine could all come true this magic night of nights with you
The lyrics to Les Paul & Mary Ford's song Blue Hawaii are a beautiful love letter to a romantic setting. The song is all about the perfect moment - a nighttime stroll in the beauty of Blue Hawaii. The author is infatuated, finding their lover to be "heavenly," and the night "magical." The moon is shining off the sea, and everything feels possible.
The author's language is poetic, full of lush description of the setting around them. The listener can easily imagine walking quietly on the beach with their own loved one, with the gentle lapping of the waves as accompaniment. The lyrics add to the romantic atmosphere, emphasizing how the night is young and there's hope for the future. The author believes dreams come true in Blue Hawaii, and this magic moment - with this person - could be the start of something wonderful.
Overall, the lyrics to Blue Hawaii paint a dreamy, romantic picture. They capture the feeling of a perfect moment and the hope that comes with new love.
Line by Line Meaning
Night and you and Blue Hawaii
The combination of the night and you being here in Blue Hawaii is magical and unforgettable.
The night is heavenly and you are heaven to me
The night feels other-worldly and surreal because of your presence next to me.
Lovely you and Blue Hawaii
You are lovely and being here in Blue Hawaii makes everything even lovelier.
With all this loveliness there should be love
Given how beautiful everything is, it's only natural that we should feel love for each other.
Come with me while the moon is on the sea
Let's take advantage of this romantic moment while the moon is shining over the sea and go somewhere.
The night is young and so are we, so are we
We are both youthful and energetic, and we have the whole night ahead of us to enjoy each other's company.
Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii
Being here in Blue Hawaii is like a dream come true, a place where love and magic can happen.
And mine could all come true this magic night of nights with you
This could be the night where all my dreams come true, and it's because you're here with me.
Come with me while the moon is on the sea (the moon is on the sea)
Let's go off and explore this romantic scenery together, hand in hand.
The night is young and so are we (so are we)
We are both young and alive, with a whole night of romance and love ahead of us.
Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii
In this magical place, where love and beauty coexist, our wildest dreams can come true.
And mine could all come true this magic night of nights with you
As long as you're by my side, this could be the night where every dream I've ever had comes true.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Moondog Surf
I have this record. The song order on the jacket does not match the label on the record. The label on the record shows:
A1) Blue Hawaii 0:00
A2) Drifting and dreaming 2:42
A3) King's serenade 5:05
A4) Song of the Islands 7:19
A5) Sweet Leilani 10:08
A6) To you sweetheart, Aloha 12:31
B1) On the beach at Waikiki 14:58
B2) Golden sands 17:26
B3) My little grass shack 19:47
B4) Hawaiian charms 22:30
B5) Pacific breeze 24:28
B6) Farewell to thee (Aloha Oe) 27:00
kingoma61
Les Paul wrote three of the songs on the album, "Golden Sands", "Hawaiian Charms", and "Pacific Breeze". He also arranged the final song on the album, "Farewell To Thee (Aloha Oe)", written by Liliuokalani. Both a mono, CL 1276, and a stereo, CS 8086, version were released. No lyrics are sung on the album. There are, however, background vocals. Three EPS or Extended Play 45s were also released. Les Paul and His Trio had released a similar Hawaiian-themed album in 1949 entitled Hawaiian Paradise on Decca Records as DL 5018, a 10" mono LP album.
Roy Bodden
My favorite album by Les and Mary is titled "Time to Dream". What an absolutely beautiful album! It was recorded quite a few years before this album. It was on the Capitol label.
Roy Bodden
I bought this album back in 1960, and yes, I LIKE it. But I would have LOVED it even better if Mary had sung even a few of the songs!
hurdygurdyguy1
Exactly! If it's titled Les Paul AND Mary Ford where's Mary?? Singing the oohs and ahhs in the background?
Sprocket Walker
I can feel the sea breeze and the sand between my toes!
Records With Ray
Ok, This album is truly incredible!
Eric Little
I have this album and completely forgotten how beautiful it is Thank you for posting :)
Tobias Hoyden
Wish I could explain to my Younger self that he will one day love the music of les paul and Mary Ford.
The fact that he turned recording into an art form is incredible
But their sound is gorgeous
Damn, younger self, you missed out
Chad
So many albums... so little time.
Les was a magical guitarist.
I could listen to this over and over...
and over.
Tao Nguyen
So sweet, so melodious !