LOUIE LOUIE WORDS – The Truth

The Song

This was written by an R&B singer named Richard Berry in 1955. With his group The Pharaohs, he was also the first to record it, and it got some airplay in some cities in the Western US when it was released in 1957. Various garage bands heard it and started covering the song, until it became a phenomena with the Kingsmen's 1964 version. While much of the song's notoriety comes from the indecipherable lyrics, in Berry's original version words are quite clear: the song is about a sailor who spends three days traveling to Jamaica to see his girl.

The Truth

"The words to Louie, Louie are almost impossible to understand, and are rumored to be obscene. No question that this added significantly to the sales of the single. There was probably a leak somewhere that the lyrics were obscene; otherwise no one would have realized it. This was the most ingenious marketing scheme ever. The FBI tried to track down Richard Berry, The Kingsmen, and various record company executives. They were never able to determine the actual lyrics used. To this day, the Kingsmen insist they said nothing lewd, despite the obvious mistake at the end of the instrumental, where Jack Ely started to sing the last verse one bar too soon, and can be heard yelling something in the background. Ely also said that he sung far away from the microphone, which caused the fuzzy sound, and that the notoriety was initiated by the record company. The words sound much more like the official version seen below, especially the word "rose" instead of "bone." The lyrics rumor was a sham.

The Actual Richard Berry Lyrics

CHORUS:

Louie Louie
Me gotta go
Louie Louie
Me gotta go

Fine little girl she waits for me
Me catch the ship across the sea
I sail the ship all alone
I never think I make it home

CHORUS

Three nights and days me sail the sea
Me think of girl, constantly
On that ship, me dream she there
I smell the rose in her hair.

CHORUS

Me see Jamaica, the moon above
It won't be long, me see me love
Me take her in me arms again
I Tell her I'll never leave again

CHORUS

The Actual Kingsmen Lyrics

CHORUS:

See (mistake) See Jamaica, the moon above
It won't be long, me see me love
Take her in my arms again
I Tell her I'll never leave again

Let's go on outa here huh
Let's go!!

Other "Louie" Trivia

Louie Louie was prominently featured in the film Animal House, starring John Belushi, despite the fact that it wasn't actually recorded until almost two years after the period of time in which the movie is set (1962).

It cost $50 to record. The Kingsmen went to the studio after a radio station executive in Portland saw them perform it live and suggested they record it.

The song  was the only Kingsmen song with lead vocals by Jack Ely. Before this became a hit, he quit when band leader Lynn Easton assumed vocals and ordered Ely to drums. When this became a hit, Easton would lip-sync to Ely's vocals on TV performances.

According to lead singer Jack Ely, the studio had a 19-foot ceiling with a microphone suspended from it. Ely claims that was the cause of the "garbled" lyrics, but Paul Revere and the Raiders recorded their version of "Louie Louie" in the same studio the day after the Kingsmen's session, and their partly ad-libbed lyrics are clearly heard.

Louie became a national hit when a disc jockey in Boston played it and declared that it was the worst song he ever heard. Ah …..what did he know?