LA-based R&B singer Richard Berry wrote one of rock 'n' roll's most enduring anthems, Louie Louie, in 1955, releasing it on the Flip 321 label in 1957 on the B-side of a 7-inch single. You Are My Sunshine was the song on the A-side. It was released again later in 1957. Berry had a minor hit in the Northwest, but the song failed to reach the charts. Berry tried several follow-ups but to no avail. In 1959, he sold his rights to the song to the head of Flip 321 for US$750 (he was getting married and need the cash).
Richard Berry jams at home with his son Marcel and daughter Christy in 1991.
And, really, that should have been the end of the story. It's a classic LA-style R&B song with great harmonies (Berry was a stalwart of doo-wop and harmony groups in LA), honking saxophone and a catchy beat. There's a cod-Jamaican accent to the singing, perhaps attempting to cash in on the calypso boom of the 1950s, and lyrics that tell of a sailor returning to the island (Jamaica). Hints of Latin music, too.
How then, did this R&B song end up as the most recorded rock song of all time, eclipsing even The Beatles' Yesterday? There are at least 1,500 cover versions of this song, and those bands that have covered it include, to name a few: The Doors, Motorhead, Blondie, The Clash, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, The Flamin' Groovies, MC5, Led Zeppelin, Toots & The Maytals, Patti Smith, Lou Reed and Black Flag.
There are two key reasons for the song's mythical status. First was the 1963 recording by The Kingsmen and second was the banning of the song 50 years ago this month by the governor of Indiana, after complaints that the lyrics were obscene. The Kingsmen were a garage-rock band who recorded the song in one take, slurring the lyrics to make them almost incomprehensible while giving the song some early guitar power chords. Twangy guitars and chaotic breaks drive it along. When you listen to it, it's easy to hear why it became a standard for teen parties across the US - it's a raucous dancer.
Singer and songwriter Richard Berry, creator of the famous song Louie Louie, in 1991.
Moral panic over the "degenerate'' content of the song attracted the attention of the FBI who made a 31-month investigation into the song. After playing the song backwards and forwards and every which way, the suits in the agency concluded that no one could understand the lyrics, which was what the band had been saying all along. The FBI's sonic investigations would later give credence to those who believed certain Beatles' songs played backwards revealed secret, and rather nasty, messages.
If you ban something like a rock 'n' roll song, you can be sure you'll attract even more attention to it, particularly from young people. Banning Louie Louie certainly helped create the "rebel myth'' that surrounds the song even today. From then on it just took on a life of its own.
The Kingsmen did not go on to greater things; legal wrangles dogged two versions of the band in the 1960s. Many of the more famous bands did much better with their versions. Richard Berry, the real forgotten hero of this story might never have received any further benefit from the song he wrote were it not for an enquiry by an advertising company that wanted to use the song for a TV commercial. At the time he was living on welfare with his sister but a court case in the early 1980s returned ownership of the song to its author and he went on to become a millionaire. He returned to the stage with some of his children, and enjoyed his later years touring and recording, and telling everyone about Louie Louie.
I have listened to many versions of Louie Louie in writing this column but none really touch the original version by Berry himself. Toots & The Maytals do a nice job, and Iggy Pop's live version was terrific when I saw it years ago but no one sings it like Berry. His mellifluous voice and the chugging sax-laden beat come together in perfect harmony. Go to YouTube and check it out. And turn up the volume.
This Friday, Isan Dancehall returns with a distinctly Southeast Asian feel: Eastern Connections Dangdut, Melayu and Molam features dangdut, Indonesia's most popular local style, spun by Jakarta's own DJ Uda Sjam, supported by Soi 48 from Japan and DJs Maft Sai and Masa Niwayama. The event is being held at a new space, Grease on Sukhumvit 49, on the fourth floor, from 10pm till late.
The writer of column can be contacted at: clewley.john@gmail.com
