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Les Paul - Sleepwalk


Jeff Wexler

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Here's me and my hero, shot at SMPTE. His invention of the multi-track recorder truly bent history. It freed us from the hegemony of getting everything right in real time and the impossibility of contributing more than a single part. As much as I loved his music with Mary Ford (the first songs I can remember from the radio in the earliest '50's), and as indebted as I feel for the spectacular body of music his guitar made possible, they pale in comparison to the enrichment his multi-tracking brought to us all.

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  • 2 weeks later...

And there were a thousand covers of Sleep Walk. Les Paul's is one of many. D.C. native Danny Gatton, Jeff Beck, the Ventures, Leo Kotke, Charlie Musslewhite, Jake Shimabukuro, Chet Atkins, Larry Carlton and the Chantays also recorded covers of the song I've heard. There are certainly many others.

 

Sherman Al has warmed up the wayback machine, so here's Danny Gatton playing the song in a saloon:

 

Back to the original theme of the thread, Danny was a guitar tech to help pay the bills and worked on Les Paul's Les Paul more than once.

Best regards,

Jm

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I worked on the 1992 film Sleepwalkers for director Mick Garris, and he used the Santo & Johnny original "Sleepwalkers" as a recurring theme for the entire story (screenplay written by Stephen King). Garris told me that Santo Farina actually owns the rights to the song and the director had to personally negotiate with him in order to use the song in the movie. Very memorable song. 

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