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
Goofus
Les Paul Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A flaming youth who was bound that he'd fly away
I packed my grip and I grabbed my saxophone
Can't read notes, but I play anything by ear
I made up tunes on the sounds that I used to hear
When I'd start to play folks used to say
"Sounds a little Goofus to me"
Hold that note and change the key, that's called "Goofus"
Not according to the rules that you learn at music schools
But the folks just dance like fools, they go "Goofus"
Got a job but I just couldn't keep it long
The leader said that I played all the music wrong
So I stepped out with an outfit of my own
Got together a new kind of orchestree
And we all played just the same "Goofus" harmony
And I must admit we made a hit
Les Paul's song "Goofus" tells the story of a young musician from Iowa who leaves the farm and sets out to pursue his dreams of playing music. The singer, who plays the saxophone by ear, admits that he cannot read music notes but makes up tunes from the sounds that he hears. He introduces a new harmonious sound that he calls "Goofus" that isn't in line with the standard rules of music. Despite being the source of criticism from music experts, this new sound attracts people who dance to the beat and go along with it.
The song highlights the challenges that artists who try to create something unique and different face in society, especially when their vision does not align with the conventional expectations of the masses. However, the artist overcomes these challenges by sticking to his true musical passion and finding an accepting audience that appreciates his unique sound.
Overall, "Goofus" is a testament to the power of individuality and being true to one's artistic self, even when it seems like the world is against it.
Line by Line Meaning
I was born on a farm out in Ioway
I came from a rural background in Iowa
A flaming youth who was bound that he'd fly away
I was a young man yearning to leave and explore the world
I packed my grip and I grabbed my saxophone
I left home with only my suitcase and sax in hand
Can't read notes, but I play anything by ear
I don't have the ability to read sheet music, but I have a good ear for playing music by sound
I made up tunes on the sounds that I used to hear
I created melodies based on the sounds I heard around me
When I'd start to play folks used to say 'Sounds a little Goofus to me'
When I played, some people remarked that my style was unconventional and unrefined, calling it 'Goofus'
Cornfed chords appeal to me, I like rustic harmony
I enjoy simple, country-style music with basic chords and harmony
Hold that note and change the key, that's called 'Goofus'
My technique of sustaining a note while changing the key is what I call 'Goofus'
Not according to the rules that you learn at music schools
My approach to music is non-traditional and doesn't follow the rules taught in music schools
But the folks just dance like fools, they go 'Goofus'
Despite my unconventional style, people still enjoy and dance to my music, calling it 'Goofus'
Got a job but I just couldn't keep it long
I had a job playing music, but I didn't last there for very long
The leader said that I played all the music wrong
My employer criticized my music, claiming that I played everything incorrectly
So I stepped out with an outfit of my own
I left the band and formed my own group
Got together a new kind of orchestree
I assembled a unique, unconventional musical ensemble
And we all played just the same 'Goofus' harmony
My new band played the same non-traditional, 'Goofus' style of music
And I must admit we made a hit
My band's unconventional music was successful and well-received by audiences
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: WILLIAM HAROLD, GUS KAHN, WAYNE KING
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Accam570
This one's a lot of fun.❤
@bethheinecamp1061
He was such a talented man!
@muffs55mercury61
The man's hand were magic and indestructible. From a car accident that rendered them almost useless to severe arthritis at age 93 there was nothing that ever slowed him down..
@dinomate01
I never managed to get a copy of this on 78 rpm !
@MarkJones-bx1gg
This was used as incidental on The Beverly Hillbillies
@MarkJones-bx1gg
incidental music
@mevb
Why Les Paul when you can get more Paul? 😆
@DantheToonMan
Hah good one
@RWBHere
@@DantheToonMan I met a female who was known as Les Paul.
@DantheToonMan
@@RWBHere cool!