The Steel Guitar Forum Store 

Post new topic LEON McAULIFFE on Steel Guitar Rag
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Reply to topic
Author Topic:  LEON McAULIFFE on Steel Guitar Rag
C. E. Jackson


Post  Posted 21 Aug 2018 9:43 am    
Reply with quote

LEON McAULIFFE

WESTERN SWING PIONEER BAND LEADER, COMPOSER OF THE MOST FAMOUS
INSTRUMENTAL "STEEL GUITAR RAG"

BORN: JANUARY 3, 1917 HOUSTON, TEXAS
DIED: AUGUST 20, 1988
INDUCTED: 1978 (Steel Guitar Hall of Fame)


STEEL GUITAR RAG

Leon was the second member elected to the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. I really
enjoy his playing. Notice how he doesn't watch his bar hand too closely.

C. E. Jackson Smile
_________________
My Vintage Steel Guitars
My YouTube Steel Guitar Playlists
My YouTube Steel Guitar Songs
A6 tuning for steels
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

David Knutson


From:
Cowichan Valley, Canada
Post  Posted 21 Aug 2018 10:09 am    
Reply with quote

Thanks for that, C.E. Gotta love Leon!

Ya, he's so busy grinning at the crowd that his bar hand is playing the tune all by itself. Not Me!!
_________________
David K
View user's profile Send private message

Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 21 Aug 2018 11:17 am    
Reply with quote

If you do a little searching, and listening, you'll find that Leon, bless his heart, borrowed quite a bit of Steel Guitar Rag from Sylvester Weaver who wrote and recorded a VERY similar song in 1927. Rolling Eyes
Erv
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

David Knutson


From:
Cowichan Valley, Canada
Post  Posted 21 Aug 2018 11:31 am    
Reply with quote

Yes, Sylvester Weaver's tune was called - you guessed it - Guitar Rag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plsT3v5tlg4
_________________
David K
View user's profile Send private message

Doug Beaumier


From:
Northampton, MA
Post  Posted 21 Aug 2018 12:20 pm    
Reply with quote

Yep, it sounds like a rip off of "Guitar Rag" by Sylvester Weaver. ----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1mHGnfa6CI
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Mark van Allen


From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 10:53 am    
Reply with quote

There are some ancient threads about this. Sylvester got burned, I think. The similarities are enough that I’ve often wondered how Leon felt about sort of having a career built on that composition.
_________________
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com
www.musicfarmstudio.com
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Scott Thomas

 

Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 11:05 am    
Reply with quote

I'm guessing Sylvester Weaver didn't get any royalties. Muttering
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 12:18 pm    
Reply with quote

Leon got the goldmine and Sylvester got the shaft! Whoa!
Erv
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Jim Dickinson

 

From:
Washington, USA
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 12:51 pm    
Reply with quote

Leon said that he'd never heard the Guitar Rag until years after he recorded the Steel Guitar Rag with Bob Wills. I think this is very possible as the tune's really not that complicated and almost intuitive to the Steel Guitar. In the 1930's the only way he would have heard it was by listening to a very obscure 78 rpm record. Today, we can access most music by the touch of a computer key, back then the distribution of music was much, much, more difficult.

I personally can attest to this, as the only Argentine Tango DJ in North America who uses original 78 RPM Records, direct off the turntable, I have Tango records I bought in the Flea Markets of Buenos Aires, recorded by known artists, that I have never heard or seen in any kind of media, anywhere else.

Considering the possibility, the difference of demographics, ethnicity, location, money available for record purchase outside of one's immediate genre, the chance of Leon ever hearing the original Guitar Rag record, would have been pretty unlikely.

I personally have no reason to doubt Leon.
_________________
Beginning Player, 1946 Fender Dual Pro- Boxcar, Late 1950's Fender Champ, 1954 Fender D8 MK1 Stringmaster Project, MK 2 Stringmaster 22.5 Single Neck Project, MK 2 Stringmaster T8 22.5" Project, Vintage D8 built with Stringmaster Parts. Lottsa parts.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

C. E. Jackson


Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 1:08 pm    
Reply with quote

This is the information posted on the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame
list on SCOTTY'S MUSIC:

http://scottysmusic.com/hofplq.htm

Note that Herb Remington was the fourth inductee in 1979.
_________________
My Vintage Steel Guitars
My YouTube Steel Guitar Playlists
My YouTube Steel Guitar Songs
A6 tuning for steels
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Bill McCloskey


From:
Nanuet, NY
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 1:17 pm    
Reply with quote

While the tune maybe simple on the steel guitar, I'm going to have to disagree with Jim. There is absolutely no way that wasn't ripped off. It is note for note.
_________________
Check out the Steel Guitar Union Hall Facebook group for you daily dose of Steel https://www.facebook.com/groups/steelguitarunionhall
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 1:32 pm    
Reply with quote

I'm with Bill.
Erv
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Doug Beaumier


From:
Northampton, MA
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 2:46 pm    
Reply with quote

It’s possible that Guitar Rag was a tune that guitarists on the Vaudeville circuit played but no one had ever secured a copyright on it. Leon must have heard a guitarist playing it somewhere and decided to play it on steel and copyright it as Steel Guitar Rag.

To believe that Leon never heard Guitar Rag until years after he recorded Steel Guitar Rag, you would also have to believe that he coincidentally came up with the words Guitar Rag for the title Steel Guitar Rag. What coincidence!
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Scott Thomas

 

Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 3:04 pm    
Reply with quote

Another possible scenario that occurred to me is that he heard the record (or someone performing it), and knew what it was called, and did his "Steel Guitar Rag" as an innocent take on it. It could have been part of his repertoire early on and he just didn't think in terms of "ripping off" anybody. Later of course, when it became his signature tune it was to his advantage to maintain the story Jim above tells.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Michael Lee Allen

 

From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 3:24 pm    
Reply with quote

Here's how it happened, condensed version for the Internet. Back in the day pianos were sold by furniture stores. Because they sold pianos they also sold sheet music. When the phonograph came out it had a wooden cabinet and usually a wooden stand. Also sold by furniture stores who then sold records to go with the players. A full-line music store as we know them today was found only in a major city. So musicians like Leon would go to the furniture store to check out sheet music (if they could read it) and the newest records. There are multiple books on Western Swing with a number of the early players stating that they did hang out in music stores and checked out BLACK music to get the ideas they used to jazz up their simple fiddle dance music. They were too "white bread" and "square" to have ever come up with that kind of sound on their own. So Leon heard Sylvester's record and copied it. and claimed credit for it. And collected the money. Just like a hundred or more other country, rock, and "blues-based" rock "artists" here and in England have done over the years. Once it's brought to the attention of the "heirs and assigns" interested parties and lawyers volunteer and a case is made against them, mostly settled out of court with a negotiated lump sum and future "supervised and monitored" royalty payments. These out of court proceedings usually include a "silence clause" as a condition, basically a "gag-order" so nobody can talk about it and the "artists" get to keep their reputation and don't get outed as scumbag ripoffs. I'm with Sylvester on this one. He had the tune out on a major label for the time, and it was popular. He was first and Leon ripped him off. If they were both alive today Leon would have been in front of a judge on this, and he would have been begging to settle and not have a trial. He'd have lost and lost big.
MLA
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Scott Thomas

 

Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 3:40 pm    
Reply with quote

I don't know if this has its exact corollary in the above, but this topic did make me immediately think of Led Zeppelin and their "Lemon Song", which was a bold faced appropriation of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" along with a liberal sprinkling of Crosscut Saw and other old blues/rag songs which used the phrase squeeze my lemon. (I leave it to the board to figure out the meaning).

Anyway, Wolf's publisher sued and he got $45,000 and a songwriting credit on subsequent pressings of Led Zeppelin II.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Scott Thomas

 

Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 3:49 pm    
Reply with quote

At any rate, in deference to C.E. and in spite of all, I think Leon deserves all the accolades he gets as one of the true greats.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Doug Beaumier


From:
Northampton, MA
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 4:10 pm    
Reply with quote

As far as I know, you cannot sue for copyright infringement unless you have a registered copyright. I'm guessing that Sylvester Weaver did not copyright Guitar Rag and therefore would have no claim against Leon. Or maybe the earlier recording itself would give him a legitimate claim?
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website

Michael Lee Allen

 

From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 4:13 pm    
Reply with quote

Led Zeppelin are "chronic offenders" and have been subject to multiple legal actions. I can't and won't say any more about it.
MLA
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Michael Lee Allen

 

From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 4:25 pm    
Reply with quote

Doug...
If Weaver had family who were interested there is a mechanism commonly called "recovery publishing". It's easy to prove he was the first to record it. Record company recording files, their records of paying him, dated print advertising of the record and so on. Then documentation to prove the heirs are actually that, birth certificates and so on, then an interested lawyer who's a blues fan and loves going after "rock stars" on a Pro Bono basis. Beyond a reasonable doubt proves SW was the originator and it's common knowledge that the blues guys were not informed they had royalty money coming back in the day. Estimate how many units were sold by the artist or artists claiming authorship/publishing, and even use company ledgers where they exist. Then sue the weasel(s) and negotiate down to half of what should have been paid to date as a lump sum plus all costs, and from that date on payment at full rate, with monitoring and reporting to verify it's been done.
MLA
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Fred Treece


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 7:10 pm    
Reply with quote

Without a doubt, deliberate songwriting ripoffs take place. However, if anybody here has attempted to write original music, as I have, you know there is also at least one other possibility.

I once wrote a song that I thought came from the depths of my soul, even had it copyrighted. Then one day I was listening to one of my George Strait albums, and the song “Haven’t You Heard” came on. My heart took a nose dive... With a few minor deviations, there was my song, hook, line, and sinker. The only thing missing was Paul Franklin’s incredible steel part.

The lesson is that sometimes you have music in your head that you didn’t know was there nor do you know where it came from, so you think it is an original idea. I gave up songwriting. Not because I sucked or I didn’t like it, but because I couldn’t trust my originality.

I believe this is what happened with George Harrison and “My Sweet Lord”. Maybe the same thing happened with Leon. Unlike me, immensely talented people are able to recover and move on...


Last edited by Fred Treece on 22 Aug 2018 7:25 pm; edited 1 time in total
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Fred Treece


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 7:16 pm    
Reply with quote

And now back to the topic at hand...

What a great video! What horrible audio! It really is difficult to listen to, but a lot of fun to watch. Leon had probably played the tune a gazillion times by then and could play it blindfolded. He is quite the showboat. And that is one amazing jacket, even in black and white.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Scott Thomas

 

Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 7:22 pm    
Reply with quote

Right. Guilty of “subconscious plagiarism” in Harrison's case.

I can imagine that was a little spooky, Fred.

I too enjoy watching him perform. There is a Texas Playboys Austin City Limits reunion show and he plays bandleader. The guy was a pro showman and presenter for sure.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Fred Treece


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 22 Aug 2018 7:27 pm    
Reply with quote

Almost crapped my pants.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Stefan Robertson


From:
Hertfordshire, UK
Post  Posted 23 Aug 2018 5:06 am    
Reply with quote

Hmmm... that is blatantly yet another rip off no excuse really. Playing the same single note and chord progressions is one thing but even the name. Ripped and credited to the wrong person.

Sad that it happened but assuming the positive maybe he meant it as paying homage to a musician or song he liked. Hell Western swing introduced an anti-black audience to small doses of jazz. Which is fine with me as music has no colour, religion or ethnic divides.

Credit should be given however to set the record straight. By us as steelers and fellow musicians alike.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com

"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist"
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website


All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Jump to:  

Our Online Catalog
Strings, CDs, instruction,
steel guitars & accessories

www.SteelGuitarShopper.com

Please review our Forum Rules and Policies

Steel Guitar Forum LLC
PO Box 237
Mount Horeb, WI 53572 USA


Click Here to Send a Donation

Email admin@steelguitarforum.com for technical support.


BIAB Styles
Ray Price Shuffles for
Band-in-a-Box

by Jim Baron
HTTP