Released: June, 1963; originally on: Jerden Records
Chart: 16 weeks; No. 2
A blast of raw guitars and half-intelligible shouting recorded for $52, the Kingsmen’s cover of Richard Berry’s R&B song hit No. 2 in 1963 — thanks in part to supposedly pornographic lyrics that drew the attention of the FBI. The Portland, Oregon group accidentally rendered the decidedly non-controversial lyrics (about a sailor trying to get home to see his lady) indecipherable by crowding around a single microphone. “I was yelling at a mike far away,” singer Jack Ely told Rolling Stone. “I always thought the controversy was record-company hype.” END.
54/500: “Louie, Louie” by the Kingsmen
The Kingsmen, with lead-vocalist Jack Ely in front-center
(Source article: “500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” Rolling Stone Magazine).
Feds Sparks Investigation For Second Year In A Row
MCRFB: To view FBI investigative reports on “Louie, Louie” from 1964-1965 click here.
(Actual letter of complaint below; verbatim) —
Received, February 7, 1964; FBI Criminal Division
(This letter/memo is found on page 13 of the actual 119 page FBI report-investigation, from the FBI link above; see photo below).
January 30, 1964
Mr. Robert F. Kennedy
Attorney General U.S.A.
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Kennedy:
Who do you turn to when your teenage daughter buys and brings home pornographic or obscene materials being sold along with objects directed and aimed at the teenage market in every City, Village, and Record shop in this nation?
My daughter brought home a record of “LOUIE, LOUIE” and I, after reading that the record had been banned from being played on the air because it was obscene, proceeded to try to decipher the jumble of words, the lyrics are so filthy that I can-not enclose them with this letter.
The record is on the WAND label #143 and recorded by the KINGSMEN “a Jerden Production by Ken Chase and Jerry Dennon” and there is an address 1650 Broadway, New York, N.Y.
I would like to see these people, the “artists” the Record company and the promoters prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
We know there are obscene materials for those who seek it, but when they start sneaking in this material in the guise of the latest ‘teenage rock and roll hit record these morons have gone too far.
This land of ours is headed for an extreme state of moral degradation what with this record, the biggest hit movies, and the sex and violence exploited on T.V.
How can we stamp out this menace ? ? ? ?
Yours very truly,
[NAME BLACKED OUT]
Document stamped, recorded declassified; February 4, 1984
FBI Division: CRIMINAL GEN. CRIME SEC. [END of FBI memo]
Actual “Louie, Louie” letter of complaint to the DOJ; letter remanded to FBI in 1964 (Click on image for larger view)
HOLLYWOOD — Allegations that the lyrics to the song “Louie, Louie” are obscene have popped up for the second year in a row, with the FBI calling in Limax Music publisher Max Feirtag for a first hand review of the lyrics. So far, the original lyrics have not been questioned.
Feirtag said the local FBI office called him after a complaint was reportedly filed in Detroit. Fiertag also indicated he showed the FBI the current sheet music and the original copyright. The disputed single was recorded by the Kingsmen in 1963 on the Wand record label.
Feirtag was told the FBI had contacted Wand in New York in their investigation. Last year, Feirtag offered $1,000 to anyone coming up with a copy of the obscene lyrics. When the original embroilment began last summer, Feirtag learned that someone in Indiana had written obscene lyrics for the calypso song and had sent them to the Governor. The state governor in turn had asked the Indiana Broadcasters Assn. to ban the disk. The broadcasters association called the allegations unfounded.
Feirtag claims to have never seen a copy of the obscene lyrics but was told by Vern Stierman, program director of KEEL, Shreveport, La., that he had a copy. “When I asked him to mail me a copy, he said he wouldn’t chance putting it through the mails,” Feirtag said. Further FBI review are pending. END.
FBI dispatch to FBI field office in Detroit; regarding lyrics to “Louie, Louie” by the Kingsmen(Click on image for larger view)
Addendum: For more on the “filthy” lyrics in “Louie, Louie,” as deciphered in a FBI memo, see pages 14 and 22 of the FBI’s actual report in the attached link above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R60kVchBps
(Information and news source: Billboard; September 11, 1965).
A blast of raw guitars and half-intelligible shouting recorded for $52, the Kingsmen’s cover of Richard Berry’s R&B song hit No. 2 in 1963 — thanks in part to supposedly pornographic lyrics that drew the attention of the FBI. The Portland, Oregon group accidentally rendered the decidedly non-controversial lyrics (about a sailor trying to get home to see his lady) indecipherable by crowding around a single microphone. “I was yelling at a mike far away,” singer Jack Ely told Rolling Stone. “I always thought the controversy was record-company hype.” END.
