Les Paul & Mary Ford

Everybody knows that Les Paul was a genius. He perfected the solid-body electric guitar, and he invented or developed all manner of recording techniques, including multi-tracking, delay, phasing etc. His recordings featured his wife’s voice in multi-part harmony, and he was, in the recording studio, a virtual one man band.

So what always strikes me about him is the discrepancy between Les Paul the innovator and Les Paul the recording artist, because on record he was a pop-meister extraordinaire. His records were lightweight, they were romantic, they were radio and TV friendly. The brilliance was never in-your-face; it was subtle and you had to know something about musicianship and recording to get it.

From what I understand, all the recordings he did while he was married to Mary Ford were credited to Les Paul & Mary Ford, even the instrumentals, on which, obviously, Mary did not sing. Most of this collection is taken from the box set, The Legend And The Legacy, which I found at the William Stephenson Library, and a from random vinyl collection, which I think was called The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise, which I found at Pyramid.

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Les Paul & Mary Ford:

• Lover – The first of many instrumentals, which seem to have been credited to Les Paul & Mary Ford, notwithstanding Mary’s complete absence from the final product. Paul plays these pretty much by himself, with a little percussion on the side. I have this in a vocal version by someone else. Peggy Lee? This is from 1948.
• What Is This Thing Called Love? – Also from 1948
• Caravan – Not the Van Morrison song. The great Duke Ellington song. Nat King Cole sings it, but most versions are instrumental. Cf The Ventures.
• Nola – I do know a Nola actually, she is married to the brother of a classmate from grade / high school. From 1950
• Tennessee Waltz –This is where the real fun starts. Mary comes in and sounds like a 20 voice chorus (ok, it’s actually 2 part harmony here). They were there before Patti Page, but it was Patti that had a huge hit. From 1950.
• Little Rock Getaway – From 1950. I’ve never been to Little Rock, but I knew someone from Arkansas once, probably from LR, and he had a funny name, and I wish I could remember it…
• Mockin’ Bird Hill – From 1951. Another one that Patti Page swiped…
• How High The Moon – One of the songs for which they are best known. From 1951.
• Josephine – From 1951. I don’t think I’ve ever known a Josephine.
• I Wish I’d Never Seen Sunshine – How sad. I wish I had died as a baby, she sings.From 1951.
• Whispering – From 1951. For a good vocal version, check out Nino Tempo & April Stevens.
• The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise – Another one of their better known ones. From 1951, a busy year for them.
• Tiger Rag – From 1952
• The Carioca – Must be a dance, maybe the macarena of its day. From 1952.
• I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You) – Ah, how nice. From 1952.
• Smoke Rings – Tobacco smoke as a fantasy metaphor, they didn’t have those packages that show diseased organs back then. From 1952.
• Meet Mr. Callaghan – No, I have no idea who he was. The Ventures covered this. From 1952.
• Take Me In Your Arms And Hold Me – Not to be confused with Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me by Gladys Knight And The Pips. From 1952
• Lady Of Spain – Also by Eddie Fisher, and by The Ventures. From 1952.
• My Baby’s Coming Home – From 1952
• Bye Bye Blues – From 1953
• I’m Sitting On Top Of The World – Not the Howlin’ Wolf song. Also not The Carpenters song, which was just Top Of The World. From 1953.
• Sleep – Not the Little Willy John song. From 1953.
• Vaya Con Dios – A biggie, from 1953.
• Johnny (Is The Boy For Me) – I thought Les was the boy for me. Johnny is our sys admin, and I think I wrote that in the notes for Johnny Will by Pat Boone. “Johnny” is also the most popular boys name in pop songs, though I haven’t done an actual study. For girls it’s Susan, and variations thereof (Suzanne, Susie, Suzy Creamcheese, etc.). From 1953.
• The Kangaroo – From 1953. How many animals have songs written about them? Let’s keep track. 1….
• Doncha Hear Them Bells – A bit religious.
• I Really Don’t Want To Know – Tons of recordings of this, from the hit version by Ronnie Dove, to Elvis Presley. From 1954.
• Wither Thou Goest – The lyrical title from the book of Ruth. Song from 1954.
• Mandalino – From 1954.
• Nueva Laredo – A song about Texas. As far as I can tell, the song that The Sir Douglas Quintet did, with the same title, is a different song, but I’m not sure, even after hearing them both. They are both about Texas anyway, and I’ve never been to Texas. From the winter of 1956, and the b side of Moritat.
• Moritat (Theme From The Three Penny Opera) – I guess the Brecht / Weill operetta was translated into English and presented on Broadway or something around 1956, and so the theme music became a hit for a number of artists, including Louis Armstrong. Dick Hyman, and Lawrence Welk. Paul’s version only reached number 46, and that was in early 1956. Then in ’59, Bobby Darin recorded it as Mack The Knife, and put all the competition to bed.
• I’m Movin’ On – A not bad rendition of a great country song, by Hank Snow. Also done by Ray Charles, The Rolling Stones, Taste.
• Hummingbird – Not the BB King song. The tune for this song about someone who could not be nailed down was lifted for the theme music for the TV western Have Gun Will Travel (The Ballad Of Palladin). This is from the summer of ’55.
• Amukiriki – I don’t know what it means either. From the fall of ’55.
• Magic Melody – All the melodies here are magic. This was from the fall of ’55 and was the flip of Amukiriki.
• Cinco Robles (Five Oaks) – From early 1957. The area of town I lived in had a street called Seven Oaks, and a museum called Seven Oaks House. That wasn’t here.
• Goodnight My Someone – Goodnight, dear Mary…