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Louie Louie

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"Louie, Louie" is an American rock 'n' roll song written by Richard Berry in 1955. It has become a standard in pop and rock, with hundreds of different versions recorded by different artists.

A version by The Kingsmen recorded in 1963 is perhaps the best-known recording; it was also the subject of an FBI investigation about the potential obscenity of the lyrics, an investigation that ended without prosecution.

Original version

According to a history documented in Rhino Records liner notes in a 1989 re-release of "The Best of Louie, Louie" (Rhino R1 70605), Berry was inspired to write the song after listening to and performing René Touzet's "El Loco Cha Cha" with Ricky Rivera and the Rhythm Rockers. In Berry's mind, the words "Louie, Louie" superimposed themselves over the bass line of the song, a walking ten-note riff. The first person perspective of the song was influenced by "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", which is sung from the perspective of a customer talking to a bartender. Berry cited Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon" and his exposure to a lot of Latin music for the song's speech pattern and references to Jamaica.

Richard Berry recorded it in 1956 with his backing band, the Pharaohs, and scored a minor success on the rhythm and blues charts in the U.S., which were dominated by black artists and bought almost exclusively by black listeners.

The song is written in the style of a simple Jamaican ballad, and tells, in simple verse-chorus form, the first-person story of a Jamaican sailor returning to the island to see his lady love.

Original lyrics

Louie, Louie, me gotta go
Louie, Louie, me gotta go.

Fine little girl, she wait for me.
Me catch the ship for across the sea.
Me sail the ship all alone.
Me never thinks me make it home.

Louie, Louie, me gotta go.
Louie, Louie, me gotta go.

Three nights and days me sailed the sea.
Me think of girl constantly.
On the ship, I dream she there.
I smell the rose in her hair.

Louie, Louie, me gotta go.
Louie, Louie, me gotta go.

Me see Jamaican moon above.
It won't be long, me see me love.
I take her in my arms and then.
Me tell her I never leave again.

Louie, Louie, me gotta go.
Louie, Louie, me gotta go.

Lyrics from 1965 FBI files

Louie, Louie...oh yea, a-way we go
Yea, yea, yea, yea, yea
Louie, Louie...oh baby, a-way we go

A fine little girl – she wait for me.
Me catch the ship – a-cross the sea.
I sailed the ship – all a-lone.
I never think – I'll make it home.

Louie, Louie...a-way we go

Three nights and days we sailed the sea.
Me think of girl constant-ly.
On the ship – dream she there.
I smell the rose – in her hair.

Louie, Louie...oh baby, a-way we go

Me see Jamaica – moon a-bove.
It won't be long – me see me love.
Me take her in arms and then.
I tell her I never leave a-gain.

Louie, Louie...oh yea, a-way we go


Version by The Kingsmen

In the U.S. music industry of the 1950s and '60s, mainstream white artists would often re-record songs by black artists. On April 6, 1963, a new rock and roll group from Portland, Oregon called The Kingsmen chose "Louie, Louie" as their first recording.

There is some controversy as to the circumstances of this recording. It is definitely known that the Kingsmen recorded it at Northwestern, Inc., Motion Pictures and Recordingin Portland as a demo for a possible cruise ship gig. The group paid a small sum of $36 for a one hour Saturday afternoon session. The Kingsmen's lead singer, Jack Ely, briefed the band on the song, basing his version on a 1961 recording of Berry's tune by another band from the Pacific Northwest, Rockin' Robin Roberts and the Fabulous Wailers (no relation to the band headed by Bob Marley years later), perhaps intentionally introducing a slight change in the rhythm as he did. It was recorded in one or two takes (with the second being used); according to some reports, the band may have thought they were rehearsing rather than laying down the final track. Ely himself, depending on which source one believes, was either hoarse from singing the night before, wearing braces on his teeth, hung over, obliged to shout the lyrics into a boom microphone which couldn't be adjusted to his height, or some combination thereof - or it could have been that Ely, along with the rest of the group, simply lacked the talent to produce a proper recording. Robert Lindahl, then-president and chief engineer of NWI, and the sound engineer on the Kingsmen's and Paul Revere & the Raiders' later session of the same song in the exact same studio, recalled in interviews that both times the boom mics were parked against the wall and never used, and noted that the Raiders' version is not known for "garbled lyrics" or an amateurish recording technique. Another rather large error left on the track is when singer Jack Ely begins singing the verse of the song much too early after the guitar break in the middle, at about 1:58. He realizes he's made a mistake and drummer Lynn Easton was left to cover the error with a sloppy drum fill.

Whatever the factors in the session, the Kingsmen transformed Berry's relatively easy-going ballad into a raucous, anarchic, rock 'n' roll romp, complete with a twangy guitar, occasional background chatter, and almost completely unintelligible lyrics by Ely. The version quickly became a standard for teen parties of the Sixties in the U.S., fueled by tremendous but inexplicable popularity in Boston, and reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Another factor in the success of the record may have been the rumor that the lyrics were intentionally slurred by the Kingsmen to cover the fact that it was laced with profanity, usually in the graphic depiction of sex between the sailor and his lady. Crumpled pieces of paper professing to be "the real lyrics" to "Louie, Louie" circulated among teens. It was banned on many radio stations and in many places in the United States, including Indiana, where it was personally banned by the Governor, Matthew Welsh, simply on the rumor alone, as practically no one could understand the actual lyrics. The Kingsmen and Ely protested, when asked, that the lyrics were sung more or less as Berry had written them, but this did not stop the controversy. Even the FBI became involved in the controversy - but concluded a 31-month investigation with a report that they were "unable to interpret any of the wording in the record" [1].

Oddly enough, the song does contain one possibly obscene moment that the FBI missed. Immediately before the second verse (approximately 54 seconds into the song), drummer Lynn Easton supposedly banged his sticks by accident and shouted "Fuck!"

Recent history

Since its pressing, the Kingsmen's version has remained the most popular version of the song, retaining its association with wild partying. It enjoyed a brief comeback which also associated it with college fraternity parties in the 1970s when it was sung, complete with the supposedly obscene lyrics, by Bluto (John Belushi) and his fellow fraternity brothers in the movie National Lampoon's Animal House. A more faithful rendition of the song was recorded by Belushi for the accompanying soundtrack album.

It is unknown exactly how many versions of "Louie, Louie" have been recorded, but it is believed to be over 1,500 variations, according to LouieLouie.net. This popularity helped Berry receive overdue compensation for unpaid royalties.

Some bands have taken liberties with the lyrics of the song, including attempts to record the supposed "obscene lyrics". It is believed the first artists to do so were The Stooges. Iggy Pop would later record a more civilized cover version of the song, with new lyrics composed by Pop, for his 1996 album American Caesar.

A version of "Louie, Louie" performed by The Clash can be found on a vinyl bootleg of the band called "Louie is a Punkrocker".

"Louie, Louie" has figured in the musical lexicon of Frank Zappa quite often throughout his career. An early live version of his original composition "Plastic People" (from his You Can't Do That Onstage Anymore series of live albums) is actually set to the melody of "Louie, Louie" (the official version was released on the album Absolutely Free). At a Zappa concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Mothers Of Invention keyboardist Don Preston climbed up to the legendary venue's pipe organ, usually used for classical works, and played the signature riff. Quick interpolations of "Louie, Louie" have also frequently turned up in other Zappa works.

Louie Louie was Motörhead's first single for Bronze Records, it was a relatively faithful cover of the song, with "Fast" Eddie Clarke's guitar emulating the Hohner Pianet electric piano riff.

Nirvana's popular single Smells Like Teen Spirit uses a loose adaptation of the Louie, Louie chord line by way of Boston's "More Than a Feeling" (according to Kurt Cobain in a 1992 Rolling Stone interview) as it's introduction; this is argued to be one of the factors that skyrocketed the fledgling band's name into the mainstream.

Black Flag released their own version of Louie, Louie in 1981 on Posh Boy Records, then later reissued the single on their own SST label and as part of the anthology The First Four Years. It features Dez Cadena on vocals for the lead track, with Cadena's own lyrics for the song, which he apparently improvised on the spot, as an alternate version heard on the 1982 outtakes compilation Everything Went Black with completely different Cadena-originated lyrics suggests. A live recording of Black Flag's version of the song (from the 1986 live album Who's Got the 10½?) features Henry Rollins following in the band's tradition of improvising new lyrics for the song.

In 1988, rap trio The Fat Boys covered the song for their fourth album Comin' Back Hard Again, with new lyrics by the band that focused on the history of the song.

During the 1980s, there was a move in the state of Washington to make "Louie, Louie" the official state song; this effort ultimately failed to pass the state legislature.

Also in the early '80's, Rhino Records released on vinyl and cassette two editions of The Best Of Louie Louie. The first features Richard Berry's original recording, the Kingsmen's influential version, Black Flag's version, and several other, often bizarre versions, including ones recorded especially for the album by a college marching band and by an unidentified acappella group singing the song's title to the melody of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus"

In August, 2003, 754 guitarists played a ten-minute rendition of "Louie, Louie" at Cheney Stadium, in Tacoma, Washington, United States, in what was believed to be the world's largest jam session [2].

There is a growing movement [3]to declare April 11, Richard Berry's birthday as International Louie Louie Day.

The Louie Louie Riff

The chords to the main riff to "Louie, Louie" are A major, D major, and E major. (In tablature: A-A-A, D-D, E-E-E, D-D.)

Sample

Reference

  • Marsh, Dave. Louie Louie. Hyperion, 1993. ISBN 1562828657.
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