Althouse: Three nights and days I sail the sea/Think of girl, all constantly/On that ship I dream she's there/I smell the rose in her hair....

April 28, 2015

Three nights and days I sail the sea/Think of girl, all constantly/On that ship I dream she's there/I smell the rose in her hair....

"Jack Ely, the Portland guitarist and singer best known for the Kingsmen's 1960s hit 'Louie, Louie' has died at age 71."

22 comments:

robother said...: I never heard those lyrics. Did anyone?; 4/28/15, 5:33 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: Just picked the guitar up and went through a few verses and a chorus in tribute.; 4/28/15, 5:43 PM
madAsHell said...: I never heard those lyrics. Did anyone?

I remember that the lyrics were thought to be obscene, and the FBI investigated; 4/28/15, 5:56 PM
Mark O said...: Three chords.; 4/28/15, 5:57 PM
'TreHammer said...: "Louie, Louie" makes me think about "Animal House"...good times, good times.; 4/28/15, 5:58 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: It was 20 years before I realized that Animal House wasn't a documentary.; 4/28/15, 5:59 PM
Aussie Pundit said...: I know the lyrics only because I've been doing an online guitar course(justin guitar) and it's one of the songs in the course.; 4/28/15, 6:06 PM
madAsHell said...: The link to the FBI vault even includes the letter addressed to Robert Kennedy from a man in Florida.

Here are the alleged obscene lyrics....

There is a fine little girl waiting for me.
She is just the girl across the way.
When I take her all alone.
She's never the girl I lay at home.

Tonight at ten, I'll lay her again.
We'll fuck your girl, and by the way.
And....on that chair I'll lay her there.
I felt my bone all in her hair.

She had a rag on, I moved above.
It won't be long, I'll slip it off.
I held her in my arms, and then
I told her I'd rather lay her again.; 4/28/15, 6:23 PM
Wilbur said...: I like the obscene lyrics better.

I never thought The Kingsmen version rated above a C- on any level, including Animal House debauchery, in which I engaged as often as possible.; 4/28/15, 6:35 PM
khematite@aol.com said...: Frank Zappa (who played it more than a few times himself), asked in an interview about the Kingsmen's version:

"Well, I was also in bands when "Louie Louie," before the Kingsmen made it into the joke that everybody recognizes now. "Louie Louie" used to be a really cool tune, the Richard Berry version of it. It had, y' know, a nice arrangement to it, and a whole different feel to it. It wasn't until The Kingsmen version that it became, y' know, the "Animal House" joke that it is right now."; 4/28/15, 6:44 PM
MayBee said...: Tracy Partridge dead at 52.; 4/28/15, 6:46 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: The problem with being at the tail-end of the Baby Boom is that I was too young to appreciate these songs when they were fresh and urgent, but I've had to listen to them ad naseum in the years since. I could live the rest of my life without hearing another hit song made prior to Who's Next.; 4/28/15, 6:54 PM
Uncle Frank said...: Todd Snider wrote a song about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNG3bpHUEhg

Todd Snider rules!; 4/28/15, 6:59 PM
richardsson said...: I began listening to really old music in early 1970, and mostly stopped listening to the current hits at that time. But, I went to a dance at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium sometime in October, 1963, and the Kingsmen were the featured act. And beyond "Louie, Loueye, Oh No, we gotta go," I have no idea what they were singing. At least that's what I remember.; 4/28/15, 7:03 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: MayBee said...
Tracy Partridge dead at 52.

THIS I am sad about. Expecting to hear about on the radio Bonnaduce show tomorrow here in Seattle.

I am Laslo.; 4/28/15, 8:06 PM
driguana said...: Always love these Louie Louie conversations. If you grew up in Pittsburgh in the late 50s or early 60s you knew the original version by Richard Berry and The Pharoahs quite well as it was played on the radio all the time. The words are very clear and easy to understand. When
The Kingsmen version came out we were appalled at house ridiculous it sounded next to the original. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMr-x4nZyTI; 4/28/15, 8:59 PM
Patrick said...: Todd Snider might not exactly rule, but I think he's an alright guy.; 4/28/15, 9:23 PM
A to the C said...: Here is Black Flag's Louie Louie. It's pretty good.
https://youtu.be/DPvc_424KFU; 4/28/15, 9:30 PM
madAsHell said...: Bonnaduce show tomorrow here in Seattle.

I am Laslo.

Great! Laslo is one on my neighbors!!; 4/28/15, 9:47 PM
Etienne said...: Calipso sux...; 4/29/15, 2:42 AM
Jaq said...: On-line course for guitar? Hmmm. I never thought of that. Off to Bing.; 4/29/15, 7:05 AM
Jaq said...: Great! Laslo is one on my neighbors!!

You obviously are either a huge huge fan, or don't have any pretty daughters.; 4/29/15, 7:06 AM