RIP, Les
Posted on August 13th, 2009 by Tim Eavenson | 2 Comments »Filed under: ., Other |
I’ve broken the fourth wall of this blog once, going off topic when my son, Leo was born last year. I’m doing it again. Please i
ndulge me.
Quick – who’s your favorite guitarist? Your favorite song? Turn on the radio and flip around the stations for 30 seconds. Chances are you will hear a guitar. But not just any guitar. Chances are very good that you will hear a single style of solid-body electric guitar, pumping warm tones through double humbucker pickups, a guitar that has been manufactured by Gibson1 since 1952. That guitar, named after its inventor, is called the Les Paul, and it is the most important single instrument in the history of rock and roll.
Les Paul, a jazz guitarist and inventor, redefined modern American music. He created the guitar that gave Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmie Paige their fame. He also invented modern multi-track recording, without which all modern recording would be impossible. But he didn’t make a guitar for Clapton. He made it for Les Paul. When he was frustrated with his inability to get a sound he liked, he would simply invent whatever sound or recording device he needed.
Why am I taking time out of labor & employment law to talk about a guitarist? Les Paul was a lover of music, and he was relentless in his pursuit of perfection. His passion, filtered through his inventions, spread like a current and continues to provide us a world of music that could not have existed without him. You don’t have to be a musician to learn something from a man like that. Besides, without Les Paul, I would have never seen my son spinning around with a plastic guitar, losing his mind to “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”.
Les, thank you. Thank you for keeping thousands of irresponsible, tatooed people out of regular jobs and touring the world. Thank you for giving us working mopes something to do at home that makes us feel like heroes. For getting me through law school (are you listening, kids? Seriously – an electric guitar is better than Adderall in the middle of an all-nighter).
Les, thank you for loving what you do so much that everyone around you loves it, too. You are my hero.
As much as anyone of Paul’s stature can, he died today from complications of pnuemonia. But come on. Les Paul is immortal.
If you don’t believe me, turn on the radio.
~~ Footnotes ~~
- or Epiphone, which is owned by Gibson now |↩|
Great post Tim. I drive on the Les Paul Parkway in Waukesha at least once a week but I never knew how significant his contributions were until he passed away.
8:21 am on August 14th, 2009.
[...] last place I expected to see a tribute to the passing of electric guitar legend Les Paul was on an employment law blog. But, there it was, and a nice tribute it was [...]
9:22 pm on August 14th, 2009.