No, there is no real link between the death (or life) of Les Paul and this clip of Bowie playing "Five Years" with Arcade Fire, but a) I wanted to acknowledge the death of Les Paul, even though I have never enjoyed playing the namesake guitar (too heavy, and I always associated it with Jimmy Page, and I hated Zeppelin) and b) I heard "Five Years" on the way to work today, wanted to share, and this was the best version I could find.
Real reason I never really liked Les Paul, the guitar? Embarrassment. In the late '70s, before we had French immersion in elementary schools, or French, period, my parents made me take after-school French lessons. A couple of years later in Grade 8, when everyone had to take French, I figured I knew a thing or two about French that my buddy James, who had not taken French yet, couldn't possibly know. Early into the year, we both walked into the band room for the first time, and saw--gasp!--an electric guitar leaning against an amp. From the doorwat, James said, "cool, a Les Paul." I walked over and looked closely at it and said, "oh man, you don't know anything. It's "lay paul."
Seriously, a really amazing guy. What a life. Check this out.
And here's Bowie. This version is a little too polished for my liking compared to the stripped-down original from 1972 (!), but he still sounds amazing.
No comments:
Post a Comment