June Moon: How High the Moon

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Hopefully everyone knew this one would show up. I can’t be that unpredictable, y’know. I don’t wanna hear any “nope” out of y’all (looking with jocularity toward Ohio and New Jersey ). There would be no rock and roll without this guy. Here’s today’s moon song. How High the Moon - Les Paul & Mary Ford Yeah, THAT Les Paul. The one the guitar is named for. The man who gave us the solid-body electric guitar and multi-track recording. In fact, Les Paul is the only person who’s in BOTH the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame AND the Inventors’ Hall of Fame. (Truthfully, that surprises me, because you’d think the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would have inducted Thomas Edison for inventing the phonograph.) Here’s some trivia about Les Paul. First, he was seriously injured in a car wreck in 1948. His right elbow was shattered, and he was severely enough injured that the doctors considered amputation. Paul had doctors permanently set his right arm at an angle that would allow him to hold and play guitar. (Now you see why people my age hate autotune?) He also had a rather famous guitar student: George and Bertha Miller’s little boy, Stevie. (Yes, that Steve Miller.) The Millers were friends with Paul (and were best man and maid of honor at his marriage to Mary Ford), and Steve learned guitar from a master. This song was originally in a Broadway play called Two for the Show in 1940. There are a million versions of this song, but for me, the Les Paul & Mary Ford version is the definitive version. Enjoy. How High the Moon Written by Morgan Lewis and Nancy Hamilton Recorded by Les Paul & Mary Ford Released as a single, 1951 Somewhere there’s music: