Post by Guest In Black on Jun 11, 2007 8:35:39 GMT -5
www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/musicclub/doc_louie.shtml
Louie And The G-Men
Tuesday 12 June
2233-2330 BST
On the fiftieth anniversary of its release, Steve Van Zandt tells how a song survived the wrath of J Edgar Hoover’s FBI to become one of the most performed, recorded and influential of all time.
Fifty years after it first appeared as a mere B-side in April 1957, there are over one thousand recorded versions of Louie Louie – more than of any other song apart from Yesterday. And it’s been the blueprint for many rock classics – you can hear the influence of Louie Louie in You Really Got Me, I Can’t Explain or Wild Thing, for example. But the impact of this song has been felt far beyond the music business. It scared the American establishment enough to trigger a government investigation at the highest level, and it remains the subject of much heated debate to this day.
The story begins with Richard Berry, a 21 year old session musician and jobbing songwriter, sitting backstage before a club gig in California one Sunday night in 1956, and hearing a local band play an instrumental number which he can’t get out of his head. The tune was called El Loco Cha Cha and the following day Berry bought a version by Rene Touzet and set about writing his own set of lyrics to the tune – a song about a homesick navvy talking to a barman about how he longed to return home to the girl he loves.
Richard Berry and his group The Pharoahs recorded the song (which he named after the barkeeper in the lyric) and Louie Louie was released in the spring of 1957 as the B-side to Berry’s version of You Are My Sunshine. Claiming to be the first white man in the United States to broadcast black music, Hunter Hancock was one of the most powerful disc jockeys in 1950s America. He flipped over Richard Berry’s record and began playing Louie Louie on a regular basis.
The song became a regional hit but Berry was forced to sell his rights to the song for $750 in order to buy his fiancée a wedding ring. Louie Louie remained a cult favourite and was given a new lease of life when recorded by The Kingsmen in 1963. Their version sank without trace until championed by another influential DJ, Boston based Arnie Ginsburg, on his ‘worst record of the week’ slot. And then suddenly a rumour began to circulate concerning the supposed peculiarity of Richard Berry’s lyrics. If the 45 was played at 33 1/3 rpm, so the story went, its allegedly obscene content could be clearly heard.
J Edgar Hoover’s FBI was warned that a potentially pornographic recording, written by a black singer/ songwriter, was receiving national airplay and being bought by hundreds of thousands of white American teenagers.
Just to prove that there really is no such thing as bad publicity, within two months Louie Louie was number two on the Billboard charts and number seventeen in the British Top Thirty. Banning the record from the airwaves, the bureau launched a thirty month long investigation to see if Louie Louie violated federal law. Richard Berry, members of The Kingsmen and disc jockeys from across the United States were all obliged to give statements to the FBI. But, despite employing agents in six major cities and analysing master tapes of the recordings, this was one case even Hoover’s notorious G-Men couldn’t crack. Ever since, Louie Louie has become a standard for bands big and small. It’s been recorded by, among many others, The Beach Boys, Iggy Pop, The Kinks, Julie London, Otis Redding, Bruce Springsteen and Ike and Tina Turner.
Even so, songwriter Richard Berry ended up on welfare until he won back his rights to the song in the mid eighties and at last reaped the massive rewards of Louie Louie until his death in 1997. This programme explores the amazing story of Louie Louie’s journey from obscurity to cult classic. It’s not just the story of a song. It’s a tale that uncovers the uneasy atmosphere of Cold War America, of establishment fears as ‘black music’ began to enter the mainstream, the double dealing at the core of the still young record industry and the mysterious process that transforms a meaningless record into one of the cornerstones of rock ‘n’ roll.
The programme will feature archive interviews and performances from Richard Berry plus especially recorded contributions from his widow Dorothy and the many musicians who have been influenced by the song, including members of The Kingsmen, The Wailers and Paul Revere & The Raiders who will explore the enduring magic of Louie Louie. Steve Van Zandt is a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. He is a star of the hit television show The Sopranos and presents his own radio show in the United States, Little Steven’s Underground Garage.
It'll be available to listen to online worldwide and to listen again for a week after the broadcast.
Louie And The G-Men
Tuesday 12 June
2233-2330 BST
On the fiftieth anniversary of its release, Steve Van Zandt tells how a song survived the wrath of J Edgar Hoover’s FBI to become one of the most performed, recorded and influential of all time.
Fifty years after it first appeared as a mere B-side in April 1957, there are over one thousand recorded versions of Louie Louie – more than of any other song apart from Yesterday. And it’s been the blueprint for many rock classics – you can hear the influence of Louie Louie in You Really Got Me, I Can’t Explain or Wild Thing, for example. But the impact of this song has been felt far beyond the music business. It scared the American establishment enough to trigger a government investigation at the highest level, and it remains the subject of much heated debate to this day.
The story begins with Richard Berry, a 21 year old session musician and jobbing songwriter, sitting backstage before a club gig in California one Sunday night in 1956, and hearing a local band play an instrumental number which he can’t get out of his head. The tune was called El Loco Cha Cha and the following day Berry bought a version by Rene Touzet and set about writing his own set of lyrics to the tune – a song about a homesick navvy talking to a barman about how he longed to return home to the girl he loves.
Richard Berry and his group The Pharoahs recorded the song (which he named after the barkeeper in the lyric) and Louie Louie was released in the spring of 1957 as the B-side to Berry’s version of You Are My Sunshine. Claiming to be the first white man in the United States to broadcast black music, Hunter Hancock was one of the most powerful disc jockeys in 1950s America. He flipped over Richard Berry’s record and began playing Louie Louie on a regular basis.
The song became a regional hit but Berry was forced to sell his rights to the song for $750 in order to buy his fiancée a wedding ring. Louie Louie remained a cult favourite and was given a new lease of life when recorded by The Kingsmen in 1963. Their version sank without trace until championed by another influential DJ, Boston based Arnie Ginsburg, on his ‘worst record of the week’ slot. And then suddenly a rumour began to circulate concerning the supposed peculiarity of Richard Berry’s lyrics. If the 45 was played at 33 1/3 rpm, so the story went, its allegedly obscene content could be clearly heard.
J Edgar Hoover’s FBI was warned that a potentially pornographic recording, written by a black singer/ songwriter, was receiving national airplay and being bought by hundreds of thousands of white American teenagers.
Just to prove that there really is no such thing as bad publicity, within two months Louie Louie was number two on the Billboard charts and number seventeen in the British Top Thirty. Banning the record from the airwaves, the bureau launched a thirty month long investigation to see if Louie Louie violated federal law. Richard Berry, members of The Kingsmen and disc jockeys from across the United States were all obliged to give statements to the FBI. But, despite employing agents in six major cities and analysing master tapes of the recordings, this was one case even Hoover’s notorious G-Men couldn’t crack. Ever since, Louie Louie has become a standard for bands big and small. It’s been recorded by, among many others, The Beach Boys, Iggy Pop, The Kinks, Julie London, Otis Redding, Bruce Springsteen and Ike and Tina Turner.
Even so, songwriter Richard Berry ended up on welfare until he won back his rights to the song in the mid eighties and at last reaped the massive rewards of Louie Louie until his death in 1997. This programme explores the amazing story of Louie Louie’s journey from obscurity to cult classic. It’s not just the story of a song. It’s a tale that uncovers the uneasy atmosphere of Cold War America, of establishment fears as ‘black music’ began to enter the mainstream, the double dealing at the core of the still young record industry and the mysterious process that transforms a meaningless record into one of the cornerstones of rock ‘n’ roll.
The programme will feature archive interviews and performances from Richard Berry plus especially recorded contributions from his widow Dorothy and the many musicians who have been influenced by the song, including members of The Kingsmen, The Wailers and Paul Revere & The Raiders who will explore the enduring magic of Louie Louie. Steve Van Zandt is a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. He is a star of the hit television show The Sopranos and presents his own radio show in the United States, Little Steven’s Underground Garage.
It'll be available to listen to online worldwide and to listen again for a week after the broadcast.