7/11/2023 0 Comments Popkey everyday louie![]() Academics sometimes find governors' old letters handy in unwinding weighty matters of historical importance.īut what is unwound here is not something weighty but rather an absurd misunderstanding that led to parental panic and nanny-state overreach at a time when many adults were alarmed at the growing rebelliousness of youth culture. Governors hang on to their mail when they leave office and turn it over to the Indiana State Archives. We found the Frankfort teens - we located Ground Zero of a nationwide controversy - via Gov. They've never been identified, let alone interviewed - until now. Welsh, D - Ind.Īnd the two Frankfort teenagers who started it all? The recording was their cover of " Louie Louie," about a mariner who pines for a girl. The musicians were the Kingsmen, out of Portland, Ore. Nothing would come of this legendary goof-up, not a single conviction, not even an arrest. This sounds like an uplifting after-school special on TV ( empowered youth!) but in fact was the start of one of the dumbest battles in the history of America's culture wars. Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Within days the recording would be under investigation by the FCC, the U.S. 23, 1964 Indianapolis News story that described the governor's swift reaction to a letter of complaint from "a Frankfort resident." The letter, we know now, was sent by two Frankfort residents, friends acting jointly. "Record held naughty, air ban asked" read the headline on a Jan. Convinced the record might indeed be dirty, he alerted the Federal Communications Commission. He contacted the Indiana Broadcasters Association and requested that member radio stations remove the song from their rotation. He sat down and listened to it - at several different speeds. He sent an aide to a record store to buy the record. The governor read the letter, and he did something about it. On April 10, 1998, they won a legal case, allowing them to receive $200,000 in royalties and reclaim all rights to their Wand songs.Two small-town Indiana teenagers got upset with the obscene lyrics they heard in a new rock 'n roll song on the radio, so they did something about it. His return was refused when the song became viral. He departed the band shortly after, perhaps to return to school or because of a vocal conflict. It was Ely’s only recording with the Kingsmen. The band broke up soon after recording the single, and they didn’t get paid till the late 1990s. At 0:54, Easton yells a curse after dropping his drumsticks. Because Ely’s lyrics were unintelligible, they were declared not obscene. even spent 30 months looking into its lyrics. Some radio stations banned it due to its sometimes unclear lyrics, which many felt were filthy. It attained number two on the Billboard charts in December of that year and spent 16 weeks in the top 100. It was originally released on Jerden in May 1963 and then picked up by Wand Records in October. Lynn Easton tries to hide the error with a drum fill. ![]() Particularly, after the guitar solo, at 1:57, Ely begins to sing but stops suddenly, realizing he entered too early. Because it was recorded in one take, the mistakes were left in. The microphone was positioned far above vocalist Jack Ely, making it difficult to understand his words. This would become the song’s most enduring rendition. Musically, the Raiders’ version is preferred, but the Kingsmen’s version won the day. Paul Revere and the Raiders recorded a separate version of ‘Louie Louie’ the same week, in the same studio. Legend has it they assumed it was a demo tape or a rehearsal. The Kingsmen’s recording session totaled $50 and was only one take. The Kingsmen recorded their famous rendition on April 6, 1963, in Portland, Oregon. Berry’s version tells of a seaman who journeys three days to Jamaica to visit his girl. Other garage bands covered it, and it gained a partying hit in the West. It garnered some broadcasts around San Francisco and gained popularity in the Pacific Northwest. The Pharaohs recorded and issued the song in 1957. Richard Berry wrote ‘Louie Louie’ in 1955.
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