“Louie Louie,” recorded by the Kingsmen, began climbing the pop charts 60 years ago. It’s a song almost everybody can recognize, but almost nobody understands the words to. And even fewer people know the story of the song’s evolution – how it went from West Coast dance hit, to party anthem, with an FBI investigation and Supreme Court case along the way. …
“The studio that these bands were going in to record had very little experience recording bands – rock bands were sort of new in the area,” says Blecha. “It was a jingle studio. They made radio ads for, you know, car lots and for bakeries and for radio stations. So I don’t think that they were used to setting up the microphones properly for a loud, pounding rock band.” Band members have said the engineer hung a microphone high above them, causing Jack Ely, the singer, to have to shout to be heard. And his enunciation wasn’t helped by the fact that he wore braces.
It turned out having words nobody could understand would prove surprisingly important. Dick Peterson joined the band in 1963, stepping in after the original drummer was drafted. And he says when kids couldn’t understand the song, they came up with their own lyrics. Dirty lyrics.
[I’ve also heard that the band was drunk when they recorded it, but that may be more myth than legend. It helps to have a few before trying to sing it, that’s for sure. NPR doesn’t mention it, but I’ve also read that the Kingsman came up with the beat even though they didn’t write the song themselves. Reportedly, Richard Berry’s original had a 4-2 beat, but the Kingsman used the now-distinctive 3-2 beat which sped the song up and made it more danceable. Whatever happened, it’s a great song that no one can accurately sing — and it’s great in part because no one cares. It’s a great song for more than just its controversy. — Ed]
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