Cover version of the month #106
The Kingsmen cover Louie Louie by Richard Berry and The Pharaohs
I recently watched the magnificent 24-Hour Party People film for the first time in ages. Steve Coogan is outstanding as Tony Wilson (with a little dash of Partridge) while the formation of Factory Records, development of Joy Division, Ian Curtis' suicide, opening and mismanagement of the Hacienda, reliance/total piss-take on New Order's money and chaos of the Happy Mondays are portrayed with the right levels of honesty, empathy, bemusement and humour.
In the film, local punk fan Jon the Postman regularly gets up at the end of gigs to sing the evergreen garage band anthem Louie Louie, determined to keep the party going and sing his favourite song. Jon would go on to form a band and often guest with others. This led to him appearing with The Fall on Live 1977 album singing a ramshackle version.
Louie Louie is a song I most definitely heard for the first time in McChuills. It was, and still is, regularly played by Old Nick in the bar. Probably by most DJ's at some point as well!
Covered by well over 1,000 bands/artists, including The Sonics, Iggy Pop, Motorhead and The Clash, I was convinced that the original was by The Kingsmen, as that was the version referenced by the bands and in the numerous articles I had read over the decades. However, it turns out that a guy called Richard Berry wrote and recorded the song with his band The Pharaohs back in 1955.
I'd never heard the original until I started researching the song for this blog. On first listen, I have to admit to finding it pretty uninspiring. I guess I'm used to the rawness of The Kingsmen and The Sonics, while The Pharaohs version is slower and smoother.
But the laid-back groove did grab me on second listen. It is undeniably catchy, allegedly inspired by Latin rhythms, particularly René Touzet’s El Loco Cha Cha. Berry crafted a story about a sailor longing for his love while stranded on a foreign shore.
The story of the song, author, rights, publishing and ownership are quite something! There is a book in there for someone! A few google searches will direct you to some cracking articles.
By the mid-80's Berry was living on welfare and then the drinks company California Cooler used the song in a commercial. Despite the fact Berry had sold the rights to the song almost immediately after writing it, he still owned the radio and TV performance rights. He became a millionaire!
Richard Berry & The Pharaohs version
Lets travel back to 1963 though, when a young band from Portland, Oregon, called The Kingsmen took a raw, raucous approach to Louie Louie, generating immediate ripples and recording something so important that it has left a permanent mark on guitar music, stamping their name into rock history.
This could well be the most important cover version of all-time.
Apparently The Kingsmen played a 90-minute version at a teen club the night before recording. Can you imagine if that was unearthed?! What I find remarkable is how they create such a dirty sound when they look so clean cut!
Louie Louie by The Kingsmen is gloriously messy—recorded in one take with a distorted, almost unintelligible vocal from singer Jack Ely, who had to stand awkwardly to sing into a microphone hanging from the ceiling (they were essentially recording in a radio studio), resulting in a primal energy that would define garage guitar music for generations. It's so pure and real that it is completely timeless.
Beginning with an organ riff, everything else falls in behind and the energy grabs you immediately as Ely goes straight to the chorus, his words tumbling and stumbling into each other as he flies through the you take me to where you gotta go in double quick time.
Louie, Louie, oh no, you take me to where you gotta go
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah baby
Louie, Louie, take me to where you gotta go
Ely is like the original Julian Casablancas of The Strokes. Sounding like he is making it up as he goes along, a detached cool don't give a f**k attitude. You can just about make out what he is saying, although the lyrics would be the subject of much debate among teenagers in America who would speculate and write their own on pieces of paper and pass them round. Amazingly, and brilliantly, this led to the FBI were investigating the song! Lets just say that the lyrics that kids were passing around were not exactly clean! Rock n roll!
A fine little girl, she waits for me
Me catch a ship across the sea
Me sailed that ship all alone
Me never think I'll make it home
After a second chorus there is an audible shout of fuck from someone somewhere (believed to be the drummer) on the recording and Ely continues to tell his tale of sailing across the seas to his girl.
Following the second verse and another chorus, Ely screams OK, lets give it to 'em right now leading to an outstanding 30-second guitar solo over the simple and sublime organ riff. It is electrifying! The Kingsmen are in the zone, lost in the moment and no matter how many times you listen, they draw you in with them.
There is a false start before the next verse, beautifully covered with a beautiful roll by drummer Lynn Easton (my wife's name!) and then they go into it for real. This just adds to the cool, raw, unpolished, urgent vibe. The energy. You can't teach this. You can't produce this or arrange it. If you're lucky, you might capture it.
Louie Louie by The Kingsmen got off to a slow start, just 1,000 copies were initially pressed by Jerden Records, then it got picked up by a larger label, Wand Records. Remarkably, things picked up after a DJ played it as his worst record of the week!
Sometimes, the best songs are the simplest ones, built on passion rather than perfection. The infectious energy created from Louie Louie is still being felt today. It's a classic three-chord wonder that has been covered by everyone from The Sonics to Iggy Pop, The Beach Boys to Otis Redding, The Kinks to The Clash.
The Richard Berry original and the landmark cover version by The Kingsmen of Louie Louie are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs listed below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE
Richard Berry original
The Kingsmen version
Previous covers of the month blogs
