Magpie

Thursday, May 5, 2005

Louie, Louie go home.

It's amazing the longevity that some urban legends have. One of these is the allegedly obscene lyrics of the 60's garage band standard, 'Louie Louie.' Originally written by Richard Berry (no releation to Chuck) in the 1950s, the song was made infamous by totally unintelligible version that was a massive hit for the US band The Kingsmen about 10 year later. [You can hear an MP3 clip of the Kingsmen's 'Louie Louie' here.]

Louie, Louie 45

The evil record in the flesh
It's been four decades since the original brouhaha over 'Louie Louie', but the song continues to raise the hackles of moral crusaders, as a report today from the AP shows. In Benton Harbor, Michigan, school superintendent Paula Dawning barred the the McCord Middle School band from performing 'Louie, Louie' in a local parade, citing the allegedly obscene lyrics as the reason.

In a letter sent home with McCord students, Dawning said "Louie Louie" was not appropriate for Benton Harbor students to play while representing the district ? even though the marching band wasn't going to sing it.

Band members and parents complained to the Board of Education at its Tuesday meeting that it was too late to learn another song, The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph reported.

"It's very stressful for us to try to come up with new songs for the band," eighth-grader Laurice Martin told the board. "We're trying to learn the songs from last year, but some of us weren't in the band last year."

Dawning said that if a majority of parents supports their children playing the song, she will reconsider her decision.

"It was not that I knew at the beginning and said nothing," Dawning said. "I normally count on the staff to make reliable decisions. I found out because a parent called, concerned about the song being played."

It's worth noting that a typical aspect of 'Louie Louie' bannings persists in the current case: The school superintendent didn't ban the song because she thought the lyrics were obscene or indecent; she did it because someone else thought there was a problem.

As we mentioned, the controversy in Michigan is not the first time that 'Louie Louie' has raised the ire of would-be censors and moral guardians. In the 1960s, stories that the song's lyrics were so widespread that the FBI spent two years investigating the words:

Under the auspices of "ITOM," a federal law prohibiting Interstate Transportation of Obscene Material, "Louie Louie" was investigated by the F.B.I. to determine whether the song was actually obscene. Spurred on by naughty notes from teenagers that claimed to know the "actual lyrics," concerned parents contacted government authorities to see what could be done to restrict distribution of this controversial rock song....

The F.B.I. investigation of the song, which took over two years, uncovered very little relevant information. Despite a lengthy investigative process that included repeating listenings of the song at different speeds, and interviews with author Richard Berry, and members of Kingsmen, the study could find no evidence of obscenity. In fact, the bureau came up with the conclusion that the song was "unintelligible at any speed."

You can view the first page of the FBI report here at Smoking Gun.

And if you're still hungry for more info on 'Louie Louie,' the urban legend experts at Snopes.com have more on the lyric 'controversy' over here.

| | Posted by Magpie at 9:31 AM | Get permalink