THE 500 GREATEST SONGS OF ALL TIME: NO. 54
Writer: Richard Berry; 1955
Producer: Ken Chase
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
(Source article: “500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” Rolling Stone Magazine).
