Take It Away Leon

[mick hearn]

A great song by Leon McAuliffe. Does anyone know what the opening chords are and also at 1.20? Also he switches necks so where are they? Got to get this one off. So many results on the US forum for Leon you'd be searching all night

[chris]

This is great, my kinda steel, western swing heaven

[Danny Mitchell]

That's the first Leon McAuliffe I've heard.....Kayton Robert's coat is now on a shooglie peg!
Swinging, Sophisticated and Gallus to the Max.
Great post.

[Ken Byng]

Mick
To my tired old ears, it sounds as though the initial chords in the intro are based around a dominant 7th sharp 9th.

[chris]

He also done the original version of steel guitar rag amongst a whole wealth of recordings with Bob Wills

[Donny Johnston]

Danny you have a lot of listening to do. Try Cindy Cashdollar with Asleep at the Wheel. She's better looking than me.

[JeffM]

He also done the original version of steel guitar rag amongst a whole wealth of recordings with Bob Wills

Well, I guess he popularised it but it is identical to a tune called Guitar Rag which was recorded in 1923 when Leon was 6 years old.

[chris]

Yes I know the Sylvester Weaver track you are talking about and its very close but there are subtle differences, and it more than likely influenced Leon's recording. All songs pull an influence from somewhere but steel guitar rag as we know it is definitely Leon's. At least he arranged the music in a way that made it the popular.

[JeffM]

Yes I know the Sylvester Weaver track you are talking about and its very close but there are subtle differences, and it more than likely influenced Leon's recording. All songs pull an influence from somewhere but steel guitar rag as we know it is definitely Leon's. At least he arranged the music in a way that made it the popular.

We'll have to agree to disagree. In my opinion, yes, there are subtle differences but you would have to change it a lot more than Leon did for it to qualify as a new, original tune. It really sounds to me more like two different versions of the same thing rather than two different compositions.

Last edited by JeffM on Sat Jul 30, 2016 2:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[nevada150]

I have to agree with Jeff on this one, check out YouTube for the Leon McAuliffe Steel Guitar Rag Story. I don't understand how he "never heard" the earlier version of Guitar Rag. Everyone listened to radio in those days and it must have been played.
Keith.