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Benton Harbor lifts `Louie Louie' ban for middle school band
AP ^ | 5-5-2005

Posted on 05/05/2005 10:38:39 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan

Benton Harbor lifts `Louie Louie' ban for middle school band

5/5/2005, 8:03 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — "Louie Louie," the center of a decades-long pop culture controversy, is back on a middle school band's program for a weekend parade.

Benton Harbor schools Superintendent Paula Dawning had cited what she said were the song's 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.

"Louie Louie," written by Richard Berry in 1956, is one of the most recorded songs in history. The best-known, low-fidelity version was a hit in 1963 for the Kingsmen. For decades, stories have circulated that the song contained obscenities.

In a letter sent home with McCord students, Dawning had said that "Louie Louie" was not appropriate for Benton Harbor students to play while representing the district — even though the marching band was not going to sing it.

But she reversed herself Thursday after consulting with parents.

"Based on them granting permission and the multiple versions of the song, the students will march in the parade and play "Louie Louie," she said in a news release.

On Tuesday, band members and parents complained to the Board of Education that it was too late to learn another song for the parade four days away.

"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."

At the time, Dawning said that if a majority of parents supported their children playing the song, she would reconsider.

The FBI spent two years investigating the lyrics on the Kingsmen's recording before declaring they not only were not obscene but also were "unintelligible at any speed."


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: bentonharbor; louielouie; music; schools
Previous Story

I still can't believe that of all the problems Benton Harbor has(high crime, riots, unemployment), that their school district was worried about a 1963 song.

1 posted on 05/05/2005 10:38:39 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
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To: Dan from Michigan

Louie Louie, oh baby, me gotta go.
Louie Louie, oh baby, me gotta go.
A fine little girl, she waits for me.
Me catch the ship across the sea.
I sailed the ship all alone.
I never think I'll make it home.

Louie Louie, me gotta go.
Three nights and days we sailed the sea.
Me think of girl constantly.
On the ship, I dream she there.
I smell the rose in her hair.

Louie Louie, me gotta go.
Me see Jamaican moon above.
It won't be long me see me love.
Me take her in my arms and then
I tell her I never leave again.

Louie Louie, oh baby, I said we gotta go


2 posted on 05/05/2005 10:49:33 PM PDT by gridlock (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
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To: Dan from Michigan
But she reversed herself Thursday

Naturally, this had nothing to do with being made a laughingstock - Thursday - on the Rush Limbaugh Show.

3 posted on 05/05/2005 10:52:44 PM PDT by M. Thatcher
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To: Dan from Michigan
"Bird is the Word" was the beginning of the end of all cultural decency.

The song directly lead to Hustler videos and the Seymore Butt's Campus Invasion series.

4 posted on 05/05/2005 10:53:40 PM PDT by SteveMcKing
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To: SteveMcKing

Papa oo mao moa!


5 posted on 05/05/2005 10:55:23 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (.:: "Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything." ::.)
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To: gridlock

All these years trying to understand what he was singing about!!! Thank you for posting this.

Nothing more beautiful than a guy all worked up over a girl to the point of delerium.

Quite poetic.


6 posted on 05/05/2005 11:19:08 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: Jeff Chandler
My personal off color songs at the moment are John Prine's "Let's Talk Dirty In Hawaiian", Prine and Iris Dement singing "In Spite Of Ourselves" (AKA the undie sniffin song), and Mean Gene Kelton and the Diehards "My Baby Don't Wear no Panties" and "Blow Up Lover". All are adult oriented but cute IMO, and I play them in mixed audiences without too much concern...well the no panties song I don't do if there are Kidz around, but it really isn't as bad as it sounds.

prisoner6

7 posted on 05/06/2005 12:08:17 AM PDT by prisoner6 (Right Wing Nuts hold the country together as the loose screws of the left fall out!)
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To: Dan from Michigan

It's the usual attitude of "Stepping on the pissants, while the elephants march by"


8 posted on 05/06/2005 12:16:01 AM PDT by SAMS (Nobody loves a soldier until the enemy is at the gate; Army Wife & Marine Mom)
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To: prisoner6

How about "Davy's Dinghy", "Shaving Cream", and "She's Got Freckles On Her, But She is Nice"?


9 posted on 05/06/2005 12:18:32 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (.:: "Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything." ::.)
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To: Dan from Michigan

Bravo to the parents!


10 posted on 05/06/2005 4:37:34 AM PDT by michigander (The Constitution only guarantees the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.)
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