The Other Paul I Like (Not Ron)

“The worst is over. I am doing better.”
 - Les Paul

There are those who change the world and are famous for it. Galileo, Newton, Pasteur for example. Contemporary examples would obviously be Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. There are also those, though, who change the world and few but "insiders" are aware of their existence or impact. We lost one of those yesterday. Les Paul died.

For those who don't know, Les Paul invented, among other things, the electric guitar. (See his Wikipedia entry for details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Paul ) You may not know his face, but you sure as hell have seen his guitars a million times or more. Next to the Fender Stratocaster, the Les Paul, in its various permutations, has been the most prevalent instrument in rock and pop for 50 years. He was my generation's Jobs or Gates or great app inventor.

As I just said to an old friend on Facebook, I suppose one can either thank him for a lot or blame him for a lot, depending on one's viewpoint. I am reminded of the many movies about rock 'n' roll I saw as a kid in the late 50's. They all had a common theme or sub-theme: middle aged parents or church or civic leaders or whatever being up in arms about this new jungle music with its primal rhythms and risque lyrics and how it would be such an evil influence on young people, leading to drug use, loose sexual mores and disrespect for authority. Funny. They were absolutely right.

So long, Les. And thanks.