Seems crazy to have a celebration day for a song from the 60s, right? Well, this was some song…even the FBI got involved. Here’s what rock critic Dave Marsh had to say about it.
Back in 1963, everybody who knew anything about rock ‘n’ roll knew that the Kingsmen’s Louie Louie concealed dirty words that could be unveiled only by playing the 45 RPM single at 33–1/3. This preposterous fable bore no scrutiny, even at the time, but kids used to pretend it did, in order to panic parents, teachers, and other authority figures. Eventually, those ultimate authoritarians, the FBI got involved, conducting a thirty-month investigation that led to Louie’s undying?—?indeed, unkillable?—?reputation as a dirty song. So Louie Louie leaped up the chart on the basis of a myth about its lyrics so contagious that it swept cross country quicker than bad weather. Nobody?—?not you, not me, not the G-men ultimately assigned to the case?—?knows where the story started. That’s part of the proof that it was a myth, because no folk tales ever have a verifiable origin. Instead, society creates them through cultural spontaneous combustion.~Dave Marsh
Considering the explicit lyrics we have today in most rap songs, Louie Louie and the history surrounding it seems silly. However, back in 1963-64, on the off chance there were indeed “bad words” in the song was enough for parents to demand it be banned from radio.
Of course, back in those days, “making out” was the subject of many a Sunday morning sermon, shotgun weddings took place when a girl got in a “family way” and boys were constantly checking to see if masturbation really made hair grow on their palms!
As it turned out, the lyrics weren’t dirty…not until everyone made so much hoopla about it. Then, I think they wrote some. Here’s an interesting article with all the info, including the clean and dirty version of the song.
https://midcenturymodernmag.com/are-you-celebrating-international-louie-louie-day-37b8a14b4905
So, until next Humpday…Louie, Louie, me gotta go.
