[Slowhand] We Love Lucy

[John Mills]

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/legendary-guitar-lucy-507/
Legendary Guitar: 'Lucy', George Harrison's Well-Traveled Crimson Les Paul
Jerry McCulley | 05.07.2009


During the height of mid-'60s Beatlemania, the guitars most frequently
associated with George Harrison on tour and TV/film appearances were the
Gretsch Country Gentleman, Rickenbacker 360/12 and the Epiphone Casino that
both he and John Lennon wielded on their final 1966 world tour and sessions
for the epochal Sgt. Pepper's album. Harrison had also played a
cherry-finish '64 SG Standard during the Rubber Soul/Revolver era, an
instrument that shows up in promo films for "Paperback Writer," "Rain" and
"Lady Madonna."

But in August of 1968, Eric Clapton gifted Harrison with a 1957 Les Paul
Standard, now factory refinished to cherry red, that already had an
impressive rock history - and would soon reach even greater heights.
Harrison immediately dubbed his new crimson Les Paul 'Lucy' in honor of
red-headed comedy icon Lucille Ball, then quickly put it to work recording
the White Album outtake, "Not Guilty." Within weeks George also appeared
playing it in the Beatles promotional film for the single "Revolution,"
which initially aired on David Frost's U.K. TV show, and later on the
Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour stateside.


In September, it would perform what remains one of the Beatles', and rock's,
most iconic solos - but not in the hands of George Harrison. After the
initial session for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," Harrison admitted in a
1974 Crawdaddy interview, that because of ongoing tensions with main
songwriters Lennon and McCartney he "went home really disappointed because I
knew the song was good."

"The next day I brought Eric Clapton with me [to the studio]. He was really
nervous. I was saying, 'Just come and play on the session, then I can sing
and play acoustic guitar.' Because what happened when Eric was there on that
day . it helped, because the others would have to control themselves a bit
more. Eric was nervous saying, 'No, what will they say?' And I was saying,
'F**k 'em, that's my song!'"



Harrison also admitted he lacked confidence in his own guitar work during
the era, explaining that "I'd played sitar for three years. And I'd just
listened to classical Indian music and practiced sitar - except for when we
played dates, studio dates - and then I'd get the guitar out and just play,
you know, learn a part for the record. But I'd really lost a lot of interest
in the guitar."

"[Eric and I] used to hang out such a lot at that period, and Eric gave me a
fantastic Les Paul guitar, which is the one he plays on ["While My Guitar
Gently Weeps"]. So it worked out well."

Harrison used 'Lucy' frequently during the final studio dates for the White
Album and the subsequent, haphazard Get Back/Let It Be recordings that
followed in January, 1969, then played it extensively that summer on the
Beatles swan song, Abbey Road. That's 'Lucy' wailing on the middle of "The
End"'s trio of brief guitar solos. George also took the crimson Les Paul on
the road briefly with Bonnie and Delaney Bramlett later that year.


Harrison and 'Lucy' during Let It Be

As the legend goes, 'Lucy' was originally a late-'50s Les Paul Goldtop that
had made its way to the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian, and then McCoys'
mainstay Rick Derringer, who'd sent it off to Gibson's Kalamazoo factory for
refinishing.

Decades later, Rick would recall "I loved playing it, but my dad - who's
always loved a guitar looking real good - used to comment on how it was kind
of beat up. It was a very, very used guitar, even when I got it. But it
played great. So I figured that since we didn't live far from Gibson's
factory in Kalamazoo, the next time the group went there I'd give it to
Gibson and have it refinished. I had it done at the factory in the SG-style
clear red finish that was popular at the time."

Yet Derringer noted that the instrument "just didn't feel the same . it had
changed into an altogether different guitar" after refinishing. So Rick
traded it for a sunburst finish Les Paul at Dan Armstrong's guitar shop in
Manhattan, which is where Eric Clapton purchased it not long after.



But memories - especially those of veteran, hard-living rock stars - can be
notoriously cloudy, while legends - particularly those surrounding the
Beatles - tend to take on a life of their own, regardless of evidence to the
contrary. Which is just what we encountered trying to track down photos
documenting Harrison's cherry-refinished Les Paul Standard in its original
state. Which led us to wonder: Was 'Lucy' really a Goldtop in her first
incarnation? Several pieces of circumstantial and visual evidence cast some
doubts on the instrument's generally accepted heritage.

The serial number on the rear of the instrument's headstock - #7-8789 - does
indeed correspond with a Goldtop that was shipped from Gibson's Kalamazoo
factory in December 1957. But, as noted in Anthony Babiuk's and Tony Bacon's
exhaustive reference book Beatles Gear, experts who've examined the
instrument note that the style and typeface of 'Lucy''s serial number don't
match other instruments of its vintage.

While John Sebastian did indeed own a Goldtop, and is pictured playing it on
the cover of his well-received Real Live John Sebastian concert album, that
record was released in 1971, years after he had supposedly given the ax up
to Derringer. Yet during the Lovin' Spoonful's '60s prime, Sebastian
frequently played what appears to be a similar vintage Les Paul Standard
with a sunburst finish. It shows up on the cover of the band's "Summer In
the City" single, some concert shots, and a 1966 television clip of their
biggest hit, "Daydream."


The Lovin's Spoonful with John Sebastian . and 'Lucy'?

Rick Derringer was most frequently pictured playing an ES series during the
McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy" heyday. But a grainy, amateur snapshot taken at a
1967 dance featuring the band shows Derringer playing what appears to be a
Les Paul Standard that appears very similar to the one Sebastian was
documented using with the Lovin' Spoonful the previous year - or is it the
sunburst model Rick says he acquired from Dan Armstrong's shop?


The McCoys and Rick Derringer, 1967

Perhaps only 'Lucy' knows for sure - and she's not talking.

The fabled red Les Paul was stolen from under the bed of George Harrison's
Beverly Hills home during a burglary in the early '70s. Eventually it ended
up at the Guitar Center in Hollywood, where a musician from Mexico purchased
the instrument for $650. After a complex set of negotiations involving a
third party and a trip to Mexico, 'Lucy' was eventually returned to Harrison
in exchange for a '58 sunburst Les Paul and a Precision bass.

"['Lucy'] got kidnapped and taken to Guadalajara," George would later muse,
"and I had to buy this Mexican guy a Les Paul to get it back." His beloved
'Lucy' Les Paul would remain a prized part of George Harrison's collection
until his death in 2001.


George Harrison's collection in the '80s; 'Lucy' is on the wall off his
right shoulder