Louie Louie is a song written in 1955 by Richard Berry. Versions have been recorded by great numbers of artists and it has been covered live by vast numbers. Perhaps the version with the greatest impact was the 1963 version by The Kingsmen. It was a big hit to which veritable hordes of young people could be seen dancing and enjoying themselves, something highly suspicious to their elders in and of itself. Beyond that, while there were a lot of unintelligible lyrics, at least twice a male voice clearly said the word "girl". This led every narrow-minded blue nosed puritan to be certain that it was somehow "dirty". Given that since its founding such people have been the clear majority of the USA's adult population, many calls to action were issued. Stations refused to play it, some dimwitted mid-western governor declared it to be pornographic because it made his ears tingle and banned it and folks contacted the US attorney general and more.
Insofar as it would be about 20 years before Tipper Gore launched her campaign to eliminate dirty words, possible sexual innuendo and other wrong-think from rock music the nation's morals were almost certainly doomed. (Luckily, Tipper's daughter didn't listen to the blues and the vast treasure trove of blues material was spared from these attacks.) In the end, it fell to those earnest defenders of decency, morality, uniformity, conformity, propriety and narrow-minded group think, the feebs, to take on this outrageous tune. This fit right in with their ongoing war on any and all non-conformity, improper dress and haircuts and wrong-think of every kind which, at the time, was formally named Cointelpro. Jedgar's finest did their utmost, but after almost 3 years of "investigating" were forced to concede defeat. They hadn't the technology, equipment or inventiveness required to plant evidence of pornographic content in a song that had been recorded and widely distributed with both an unadulterated master and a few boatloads of unadulterated copies loose in the world. Accordingly, they declared that they were unable to find it to be porn ("innocence" isn't a big part of their lingo, just "unproven"). For those willing to endanger their soul, I have below provided the official lyrics to the version recorded by The Kingsmen in 1963:
For those willing to endanger their soul, I have below provided the official lyrics to the version recorded by The Kingsmen in 1963:
Louie Louie, oh no, you take me where ya gotta go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, baby Louie Louie, oh baby, take me where ya gotta go A fine little girl, she waits for me Me catch the ship across the sea Me sailed the ship all alone Me never think I'll make it home Louie Louie, oh no no no, me gotta go, oh no Louie Louie, oh baby, me gotta go Three nights and days I sailed the sea Me think of girl constantly On the ship, I dream she there I smell the rose in her hair Louie Louie, oh no, me gotta go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, baby Louie Louie, oh baby, me gotta go Okay, let's give it to 'em right now Me see Me see Jamaica, the moon above It won't be long me see me love Me take her in my arms and then I tell her I'll never leave again Louie Louie, oh no, me gotta go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, baby Louie Louie, oh baby, me gotta go I said me gotta go now Let's hustle on out of here Let's go
Perhaps next week we will explore the rumor that playing the Star Spangled Banner backwards at 78 rpm reveals a Satanic message from the Salem Witches. That reminds me: It's Anton LaVey's birthday.
On this day in history:
1241 – Batu Khan defeated Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. 1713 – The Treaty of Utrecht. ended the War of the Spanish Succession 1727 – Premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion 1814 – The Treaty of Fontainebleau ended the War of the Sixth Coalition, forcing Napoleon Bonaparte to abdicate unconditionally 1856 – Juan Santamaría burned down the hostel where William Walker's filibusters were holed up 1868 – Tokugawa Yoshinobu surrendered Edo Castle to Imperial forces, marking the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. 1881 – The Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, an institute of higher education for African-American women, was founded 1921 – Emir Abdullah established the first centralised government in the newly created British protectorate of Transjordan. 1945 – American forces liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp 1951 – President Truman relieved Douglas MacArthur of the command of American forces in Korea and Japan. 1951 – The Stone of Scone was found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. 1955 – The Air India Kashmir Princess was bombed and crashed in a failed assassination attempt on Zhou Enlai by the Kuomintang. 1957 – United Kingdom agreed to Singaporean self-rule. 1964 – Brazilian Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco was elected president of the Brazilian dictatorship by the National Congress. 1965 – The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: Fifty-one tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states, killing 256 people. 1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. 1970 – Apollo Program: Apollo 13 was launched. 1976 – The Apple I was created 1979 – Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, an early favorite of Israel and the UK, was deposed. 1993 – Four hundred fifty prisoners rioted at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, and continued to do so for ten days, 2006 – Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Iran's claim to have successfully enriched uranium 2021 – Daunte Wright was shot and killed by officer Kimberly Potter, who then used the infamous "I thought it was a taser" defense used by officer Mehserle when he killed Oscar Grant
Some people who were born on this day:
Labor is the source of all wealth and all culture.
~~ Ferdinand Lassalle 1591 – Bartholomeus Strobel, painter 1592 – John Eliot, lawyer and politician 1683 – Jean-Joseph Mouret, composer and conductor 1749 – Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, miniaturist and portrait painter 1755 – James Parkinson, surgeon, geologist, and paleontologist 1798 – Macedonio Melloni, physicist and academic 1825 – Ferdinand Lassalle, philosopher and jurist 1827 – Jyotirao Phule, scholar, philosopher, and activist ( 1862 – William Wallace Campbell, astronomer and academic 1864 – Johanna Elberskirchen, author and activist 1869 – Gustav Vigeland, sculptor, designed the Nobel Peace Prize medal 1879 – Bernhard Schmidt, astronomer and optician 1887 – Jamini Roy, painter 1899 – Percy Lavon Julian, chemist and academic 1906 – Dale Messick, author and illustrator 1908 – Leo Rosten, author and academic 1912 – John Levy, bassist and businessman 1914 – Dorothy Lewis Bernstein, mathematician 1916 – Alberto Ginastera, pianist and composer 1925 – Viola Liuzzo, civil rights activist 1925 – Viktor Masing, botanist and ecologist 1926 – Victor Bouchard, pianist and composer 1926 – Karl Rebane, physicist and academic 1928 – Tommy Tycho, pianist, composer, and conductor 1930 - Anton LaVey, Redacted by the decency patrols 1935 – Richard Berry, singer and songwriter 1938 – Reatha King, chemist and businesswoman 1939 – Luther Johnson, singer and guitarist 1941 – Ellen Goodman, journalist and author 1942 – Hattie Gossett, writer 1942 – James Underwood, pathologist and academic 1945 – John Krebs, Baron Krebs, zoologist and academic 1946 – Chris Burden, sculptor, illustrator, and academic 1947 – Frank Mantooth, pianist and composer 1951 – Paul Fox, singer and guitarist 1953 – Andrew Wiles, mathematician and academic 1954 – Francis Lickerish, guitarist and composer 1954 – Ian Redmond, biologist and conservationist 1955 – Michael Callen, singer-songwriter and AIDS activist 1958 – Stuart Adamson, singer-songwriter and guitarist 1964 – Johann Sebastian Paetsch, cellist 1987 – Joss Stone, singer, songwriter ,and actress
Some people who died on this day:
Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.
~~ Johnathan Winters 1554 – Thomas Wyatt the Younger, English rebel leader 1626 – Marino Ghetaldi, Ragusan mathematician and physicist 1856 – Juan Santamaría, Costa Rican soldier 1861 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer 1894 – Constantin Lipsius, German architect and theorist 1895 – Julius Lothar Meyer, German chemist 1926 – Luther Burbank, botanist and academic 1954 – Paul Specht, violinist and bandleader 1962 – Ukichiro Nakaya, physicist and academic 1970 – John O'Hara, novelist and short story writer 1977 – Jacques Prévert, poet and screenwriter 1977 – Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', author and activist 1987 – Erskine Caldwell, novelist and short story writer 1987 – Primo Levi, chemist and author 1997 – Wang Xiaobo, novelist and essayist 2003 – Cecil Howard Green, geophysicist, electrical engineer who founded Texas Instruments 2006 – June Pointer, singer 2007 – Kurt Vonnegut, novelist, short story writer, and playwright 2010 – Julia Tsenova, pianist and composer 2012 – Hal McKusick, saxophonist, clarinet player, and flute player 2013 – Don Blackman, singer, songwriter, pianist, and producer 2013 – Sue Draheim, fiddler 2013 – Maria Tallchief, ballerina 2013 – Jonathan Winters, comedian, actor and screenwriter 2014 – Jesse Winchester, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer 2017 – J. Geils, singer and guitarist 2017 – Mark Wainberg, researcher and HIV/AIDS activist 2020 – John Horton Conway, mathematician
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: National Cheese Fondue Day National Pet Day Juan Santamaría Day, anniversary of his death in the Second Battle of Rivas. (Costa Rica) International Louie Louie Day World Parkinson's Day
MUSIC goes here; With apologies ;-)
Toots
Otis
Julie
Mongo
Pete
Iggy
The Clash
Joan
Blondie
Barry
Berry