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."
Okay, one more..
There's a bathroom on the right from Creedence Clearwater Revival, There's a bad moon on the rise
If you listen to the original version by Richard Berry & the Pharaohs, on the Flip label (#321, for you collectors), the words are quite clear. The tune was a local hit in Southern California in 1957.
If you listen closely, the band misses a beat, and it sounds like someone says "sh__!"
And, a few years later, 'Run Run Run' by Jo Jo Gunne: We're all just pickles in the wind.
And I believe the 'lemon' lyric is from Robert Johnson's 'Traveling Riverside Blues' way back in the 30s. Another variation: "If you don't like my potatoes, don't go digging up my vine." And everyone's probably with the peach tree lyric.
Jeez, what a bunch of bruhaha.
I wonder if that principal had ever heard the tune
Nuts, hot nuts, get'em from the Pnut man.
we should send this high school principle a g g allen or lil duece cd for comparision ifshe thinks luoie louie is raunchy she will have a stroke and die if she hears either of those two
Nothin' like a little zero tolerance, eh?
boner
You'd think I'd have known that. I'm a substitute teacher.
Thanks!
This more closely resembles the lyrics that most bands use.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN??? I don't get it! Plant (by way of Robert Johnson) was way too subtle.
I started out as a sub, too!
Then you might appreciate this. Today I went into a high school drama classroom only to find that someone had defecated in the back of the room.
Tonite we're trying to determine who did that song in the mid 70's called "Rock On"......?
Something like, Hey kid, rock and roll.........Some echo parts and even a reference to James Dean? Another part like, soothe my soul..........
It's wonderful when children express themselves in this kind of original way, isn't it?
First thought: our future leaders
Second thought: Oh! Drama, practicing for Hollywood....ok.
"Rock On" is by by David Essex. It first entered the charts in the UK in August of 1973 and then charted in the US in November of that year.
'scuse me while I kiss this guy - Jimi Hendrix
Thankx so much!
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