Posted on 05/05/2005 7:17:17 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan
School board bans band from performing 'Louie Louie'
5/5/2005, 7:20 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A pop culture controversy that has simmered for decades came to a head when a middle school marching band was told not to perform "Louie Louie."
Benton Harbor Superintendent Paula Dawning cited the song's allegedly raunchy lyrics in ordering the McCord Middle School band not to perform it in Saturday's Grand Floral Parade, held as part of the Blossomtime Festival.
In a letter sent home with McCord students, Dawning said "Louie Louie" was not appropriate for Benton Harbor students to play while representing the district — even though the marching band wasn't going to sing it.
Band members and parents complained to the Board of Education at its Tuesday meeting that it was too late to learn another song, The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph reported.
"It's very stressful for us to try to come up with new songs for the band," eighth-grader Laurice Martin told the board. "We're trying to learn the songs from last year, but some of us weren't in the band last year."
Dawning said that if a majority of parents supports their children playing the song, she will reconsider her decision.
"It was not that I knew at the beginning and said nothing," Dawning said. "I normally count on the staff to make reliable decisions. I found out because a parent called, concerned about the song being played."
"Louie Louie," written by Richard Berry in 1956, is one of the most recorded songs in history. The best-known, most notorious version was a hit in 1963 for the Kingsmen; the FBI spent two years investigating the lyrics before declaring they not only were not obscene but also were "unintelligible at any speed."
no mention yet of Chuck Berry of My Ding-a-Ling and Reelin' and Rockin' fame:
"We did it in the kitchen, we did it in the hall
I got some on my fingers so I wiped it on the wall"
How about Wanda Jackson?
"I never kissed a bear,
never kissed a goon,
but I can shake a chicken in the middle of the room."
Old fogey syndrome - only music that was popular when they were 15-25 is "true music". Everything else is crap. Same goes for athletes, movie stars and fashion.
"How about the Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, Columbia the Gem of the Ocean, or some old John Phillip Sousa marches?"
The answer is: They are an EIGTH GRADE maching band.
Just getting them to play a basic song and march in unison is a challenge. Louie louie was obviously chosen because it's an incredibly simple song to learn.
DO you expect an 8th grade band to be able to play complex songs like the SSB or america the beautiful? It would be as melodic as a bag full of cats.
It is, and that's the point. MISCONSTRUED LYRICS!
"Why don't we Do It in the Road"
Do you know that many New Leftists back in 1968 interpreted that song as an advocacy for militant street actions-barricades,etc?
Goes to show that lyrics can mean whatever the person listening wants them to mean.
How about Yankee Doodle???????
gotcha...guess i'm having a bad day....
How much money did that cost the Taxpayers? We need a new government? I don't think I can afford this one much longer.
If I remember, that is the song the marching band plays as it tramples over Vincent Ludwig in Naked Gun.
They mentioned Jamaica. It's obviously a pro-rasta weed smoking minority thing. Ban them. Ban them all. And the horse they came in on.
do i need the sarcasm tag?
... dancin' with the chicken slacks.
&&
Wow! You must be as old as I am!
Remember "Help Me, Rhonda"? Starts out like this, doesn't it?
"Since she left me, baby, there's been own pukin' in my hair"
Yipes! Let me try that again....
"Since she left me, baby, there's been owls pukin' in my hair"
I love Louis Louis AND Woolly Bully! They are raunchy?
Who knew??????
Sheet music for yankee doodle:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.100010514/contactsheet.html
Having done time in an 8th grade band class, getting them to hit even one note in unison is minor miracle. The three notes of 'louie louie' is about the pinnacle of their ability.
To play any high school or college level marching music would likely require God himself to come down and bless ordinary 8th graders.
Berry, a legendary baritone vocalist, recorded with a numberof vocal groups in Los Angeles during the 1950's. Rhythm and blues fans might remember him as the voice of "Henry" in Etta James' 1955 opus, "The Wallflower," her answer to The Midnighters'racy 1954 hit tune "Work With Me, Annie." In the 1980's and early 1990's, he was doing shows in the LA area. He passed away a few years ago.
That's the same FBI that blew up it's own ballisitic lab, took how many years to catch Rudolph?, probably never would have caught Kycinski without help from his family, yadda, yadda, yadda, and stood blissfuly by while a bunch of terrorists trained in the USofA at flight schools and later flew aircraft into the World Trade Center towers. I'm surprised they didn't spend something like five years investigating the lyrics.
Only the imaginary parts.
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