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Just put up a post at OoL:
https://orphansofliberty.blogspot.com/2025/01/fame-is-just-ego-trip.html
It’s all about humans working in synch, feeding off each other and nowhere was it … still is … more pronounced than in the most recorded song in popular music history … skim down and look at the number of cover versions by everyone from big players to most garage bands … at some stage, they’ll run Louie Louie … despite blurred, unclear lyrics in the most popular version by The Kingsmen:
The story about the lyrics is part of the whole story about the song, the times, the reaction of the establishment considering it dirty, banning it from airplay … and the way we embraced it at the time, both for its hook and for the furor. I loved it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Louie
The original version was from 1955-57, by Richard Berry, almost a capella:
It was an African Cuban ditty, he put words to it and earned $750 towards his upcoming wedding. Later, it was used in a major commercial and he did earn millions then. Good. Pornographic lyrics, hence the need to blur them? Judge for yourself:
In more detail … he’s at a bar, he confides in the barman, Louie, he’s mellow from the rum, whatever, he has it bad for this girl … which is beautiful … this is as romantic in an earthy or shipboard way as you can get. Yes all right, there’d be some nooky once he found her but it’s really lovelorn romance … he’ll sail the seas for days to get back to her.
The song was written by an LA black guy, quite different to reggae but a bit like Sloop John B … however, it really does lend itself to calypso, reggae, the Caribbean, as many have said … and so the version I’m running here is Toots and the Maytals … cranked down, smoother, more harmonious, more Caribbean:
Don’t miss the last 30 seconds of underwater guitar.