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."
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.
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
Naturally, this had nothing to do with being made a laughingstock - Thursday - on the Rush Limbaugh Show.
The song directly lead to Hustler videos and the Seymore Butt's Campus Invasion series.
Papa oo mao moa!
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.
prisoner6
It's the usual attitude of "Stepping on the pissants, while the elephants march by"
How about "Davy's Dinghy", "Shaving Cream", and "She's Got Freckles On Her, But She is Nice"?
Bravo to the parents!
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