THIS DAY: FBI DROPS "LOUIE LOUIE" INVESTIGATION
On this date in 1965, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ended one of its most bizarre pop-culture-related inquiries. After a mere 31 months of detective work, the FBI at last admitted that it could not decipher the third (possibly obscene) verse of The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie."
It was not for lack of trying. In a special FBI sound laboratory, bureau agents repeatedly sped up and slowed down the recording, trying to decode the somewhat slurred delivery in the 1963 hit.
Many parents had complained about the song when it came out, charging that the lyrics contained obscenities that were corrupting their poor children's ears.
The third verse was the key -- and remained elusive to even the most trained government ears. It appears to be sung phonetically, or in some secret "rock language." Many suggested at the time that The Kingsmen deliberately slurred the vocals in the studio to obscurre its lascivious subjet matter.
Not surprisingly, many interpretations of the third verse made the rounds. Some much "dirtier" (in the quaint, 1965 sense of that word) than others.
One example uncovered by the FBI in 1964:
Oh, Louie Louie, oh no
Get her way down low
Oh, Louie Louie, oh baby
Get her down low
A fine little girl a-waiting for me
She's just a girl across the way
We'll take her and park all alone
She's never a girl I lay at home
At night at ten I lay her again
F*** you girl, oh all the way
Oh my bed and I lay her there
I meet a rose in her hair
Okay, let's give it to them right now!
She's got a rag on I'll move above
It won't be long she'll slip it off
I'll take her in my arms again
I'll tell her I'll never leave again
Get that broad out of here!
And there were much cruder variations. And there were versions ("Pharaoh, Pharaoh") that were sung in church! Could this be the most versatile lyrical song ever?
This person claims to do what the FBI could not:
Hmmmm...
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Mark Holman says
Spell check and oleic acid all for Dr. Demento in Pop Culture Spandex. Cool, . . .well not nearly as controversial but still a poignant reminder of love follicles, . . .Blue Opalhttp://musicnation.com/music/holworks/blue-opal
Jules Sparkles says
We only make things obscene from our own perversion or vile sense. When they cant cope they ostresize.The Altruistic Messiah ~ Ben Vandagriff ~ The CEO of Rock & Roll ! says
Single meaning lyrics are hardly worth the air the vibrate across.