Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
oh, hey there oh, hey
there I am kate and I am
bradley.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And this is History,
buffoons.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, the origin of
weird History, buffoons.
Oh, that's right.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yes, and I just
played Bradley the song Louie
Louie by the Kingsmen.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, great, great
song.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Great song.
What does it remind you of?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh boy, just for me.
It just reminds me of classicrock.
Yeah, I mean it's so, so goodand it's iconic.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I don't know if this
song is in this movie, but it
always brings me to Mr Holland'sopus.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I've never actually
watched that movie.
That is a brilliant movieRichard Dreyfuss.
Thank you, I was drawing.
I'm like the guy from Jaws,yeah, yeah exactly no great
movie, is it?
Yeah, I've heard good thingsabout.
I just never, for some reasonjust never watched.
That came out like what late90s?
Pardon me, that was epic.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Thank you for that
one um, I don't know when it
came out, probably I want to say, but I could be off again I
don't know it that well sowhenever we had a band concert
the very next class we don'thave anything to do, really
right.
So we he would put on mrholland'sus and we would watch
that as kind of some downtime.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
There you go, makes
sense, yeah, so yeah Nice.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So this is going to
be the untold story of Louie
Louie oh and the FBIinvestigation into it.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I think I've actually
might have, I don't know what
it is, you know of it.
But I think I remember hearingof this yes, yes, yes, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So Louie Louie
actually began as like a rhythm
and blues song Right, written byRichard Berry in 1955.
Yeah, it's old.
Yeah, he was inspired by Latinand Caribbean influences.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And he kind of lifted
that kind of that beginning
riff right from renee tuesday'scha-cha called the el loco
cha-cha cha-cha.
Yeah, I'll have to kind of letyou listen to that afterwards
that'll be interesting yeah, butbarry's original lyrics were
about a lovesick jamaican sailorwho pours his heart out to a
(02:24):
bartender named Louie.
Oh, and it's about missing hisgirl from across the sea.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Right Makes sense.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So Louie, louie is a
bartender.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So Barry first
recorded this song with his
group, the Pharaohs, in April1956.
And it was released in LA radiowas.
It was kind of a modest didn'tdo much.
No, didn't really do much, butit actually kind of turned out
to be a hit in southerncalifornia okay um, and barry
(02:58):
would perform it all up and downthe coast right.
And by the late, by late 1957,louis louis made it into the
charts in seattle.
Oh, wow, yeah, and that thatcha-cha rhythm kind of made it
kind of a staple at schooldances I say it's very catchy
dance song exactly, and therewas like a bunch of like teenage
(03:21):
bands that would that wouldstart playing this song okay,
sure so one such band was fromthe pacific northwest from
portland, oregon, um.
They were the kingsmen right.
Okay, they were formed by highschool friends in the 1960s um
singer jack eli, guitarist mikemitchell, drummer lynn easton
(03:41):
and a couple others okay andthey would play this song at
like little sock hops that'sfunny yeah did you ever have
sock hop, sock hops at your highschool?
No, no, no, no, it was all justmodern we dances they would
throw them from time to time inmind just because um nostalgic,
or whatever right, don't let itdie down yeah, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I wonder if they do
those to this day and age.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I guess I'll find out
when my kids get a little older
there you go, but yeah so inapril of 1963 the kingsmen
pooled 50 together, all right tobook a local studio for an hour
oh wow and record the tune as ademo.
Actually, they kind of wantedto play on a cruise ship, so
that was their demo to get on acruise ship to play.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Oh, that's funny.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, so the
recording session was chaotic at
best.
Okay, the production studioactually had pretty limited
experience recording louder rockbands.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Sure, they were
probably used to softer jazz or
something like that softer orlike single soloist, that kind
of thing, right, right.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So the engineer of
the studio suspended the only
microphone above the um, abovethe 20 year old singer Jack
Eli's head.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So they wanted to
capture like a live feeling.
Sure, but it was so high fromthe ceiling that Jack literally
had to, like, stand on histiptoes and yell up at the
microphone.
That's wild, to sing it okay.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
That's funny.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
He was.
He had to shout also because hehad to go above all the music.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, yeah, I mean
being in a band and recording in
my life a lot different backthen from what you do now.
Whereas, like the way we alwaysdid, it is basically we would
all play together but record onething Like and usually I was
the first one to lay down thetrack, so if I got mine done and
then we would take the drumsand then they would sit down and
(05:44):
layer the guitar and bass andthe vocals over me.
We didn't do it all at once.
But you see bands like an oldmovie, like the Doors movie,
which is a great movie, but theyshow them all playing at the
same time, even though JimMorrison is in a booth and stuff
.
But, they always had to playall at once, so they did it
literally in usually like a takeor so whereas we could just
(06:06):
fucking do it over and over andover until we got it right.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So yeah, quite
different yeah, that's crazy.
Yeah, well, jack eli, I justspit all over my computer.
Wow, that was pretty epic itwas.
There was some arch with thatone some distance distance with
that one.
Um so jack eli also had justgotten dental braces at the time
(06:30):
.
Jesus christ, okay, and hiswords were so slurred yeah, you,
you honestly couldn't even tellwhat he was saying.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, and doesn't
that come into play here?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
yeah, and they did it
all in one take yeah, um.
And the lead vocals kind ofcame out in this like growling
howl, yeah um, and one band andto put it or one band member
said that wasn't our best but,they released it as a single.
Well, they only had so muchmoney.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
They only had the one
hour yep, they only had one
hour options to do it otherwise,so they had to release what
they came up with.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So it makes sense so
by december 1963 the kingsman's
louis louis rocketed tobillboard's top 100.
Sorry, billboard's hot 100 top10, wow, eventually peaking at
number two on the charts.
That's impressive.
And um, drummer dick petersonrecalled that the band was as
(07:30):
stunned as anyone by success.
Sure he said quote it's nothingmore than a good party song.
Simple, basic garbage.
Sorry, not garbage.
Garage rock and roll thatsomehow pleased appeals to
people, right, but they,everybody loved that.
Look like three chordsimplicity kind of made it
(07:50):
irresistible.
Yeah, very catchy yes, it is so.
The flaw in all of this is jackeli's um indecipherable vocals
yeah, that's where the problemcomes in with the whole most
listeners couldn't make out thewords and rumors began to swirl
around what they were sayinglyrics were actually dirty right
(08:13):
yes, so teenagers around thecountry started kind of filling
in the blanks worth with theirimaginations?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And someone once
wrote.
Everybody who knew anythingabout rock and roll knew that
the Kingsman, Louie Louie,concealed dirty words.
Kids used to pretend theycouldn't hear them in order to
panic parents, teachers andother authority figures.
In reality, the actual lyricwas the sailor's innocuous love
lament.
Quote a fine little girl.
She wait for me.
(08:43):
I'm not going to tell you whatthe x-rated stuff was, because
it's not important, right?
But um, it didn't exactly stopteens from trading like typed
handwritten sheets of bogusx-out lyrics and, you know,
across the study halls andeverything how many songs have
you listened to in your lifewhere you couldn't, you didn't
(09:03):
know the exact words, but you,you heard, you heard something.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Oh for sure, and
that's what you put in there.
Oh, for sure I mean people havebeen doing that for years and
years.
I don't know, since music, yeah, um.
So it's like it's kind of funnythat it was such an ordeal that
there was, I mean, I I knowdifferent times 62 years ago,
but, um, there's plenty of timeswhere it's like, what do you
say?
Sounds like this, you startsinging.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
you finally like
you're like, that's not what it
was at all like rocket manburning up my fuse.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Up here alone nobody
knows that fucking line, unless
you actually know what likeelton john is.
But if you hear it, a lot ofpeople get it wrong.
Or like hold me closer, tonydanza, not tiny dancer.
A lot of people sing thatbecause it sounds like it do you
know the song um?
how bizarre, how bizarre ofcourse I always thought he said
help is on, help is on seeexactly how bizarre it's funny,
(09:58):
and again, I know differenttimes, but it's funny how many
times throughout history peoplefuck up lyrics to what they
think they hear because, yeah,music's funny that way.
It's different to everybody.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, so anyways so
um many adults grew alarmed um
at the idea that an innocentsounding rock song might
actually be corrupting theirkids, right.
So two small town indianateacher, uh, for example, were
so shocked by what they heardthat they complained to their
school officials.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
That's weird.
These are teenagers that arecomplaining so weird.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Complaints soon made
their way to the government
officials and in January of 1964, a high school teacher and
parent of a teenage girl wrotean outrage letter to the us
attorney general, robertfkennedy, demanding action.
This is wild, she said.
Quote my daughter brought homea record of louis louis and I
(10:54):
proceeded to try and decipherthe jumble of words.
The lyrics are so filthy that Icannot enclose them in this
letter.
I would like to see thesepeople prosecuted to the full
extent of the law.
End quote.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
That's just so dumb.
Being a musician myself, I findthis just ridiculous.
Yep, and whatever happened tofree speech, but whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Around.
The same time, Indiana'sGovernor Matthew Welch made
headlines by publicly denouncingLouie Louie oh good Lord.
Governor Welch claimed the songwas soouncing.
Louie Louie oh good lord.
Governor Welch claimed the songwas so obscene it made his ears
tingle and in February 64, herequested radio stations in
Indiana to ban the record.
Good lord, yes, that's so dumb.
(11:37):
Of course, because of this, thepress picked up the story.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Well, of course
they're gonna run with it.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Mm-hmm.
One reporter.
One reporter noted quote.
Within months of its release,the record was banned in several
cities and states, includingindiana and michigan.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So, responding to the
public outcry, the us justice
department and the fbi launchedan investigation into louis
louis, isn't it funny that you,like the fbi, had to launch an
investigation like don't youhave something better to do?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
yep, I mean oh wait,
till you figure out how long it
was because this is still in1963, right 64, early 64 early
64 so the question for theinvestigation is had the song's
producers or performers violatedlaws against interstate
transmission of obscene material?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I didn't know that
was a thing Apparently, wow,
okay.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
In other words, did
the Kingsmen knowingly put?
Dirty lyrics on the record.
So I mean a lovesick sailor'slament, I guess maybe could get
there.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I mean, that is
pretty dirty.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Nonetheless, under
pressure from furious parents
and politicians, j Edgar Hooveropened a file on Louie Louie
Jesus, as one FBI memo later putit.
Quote the popularity anddifficult in and difficulty in
discerning the lyrics led somepeople to suspect the song was
obscene.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
end quote and can I
ask, like why didn't the
kingsman just come out and belike this is what we said we'll
get to that.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Okay, absolutely get
to that.
Good, because what the fuck?
The fbi investigation yeahednearly two years.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
What a waste of
fucking resources.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Two years I mean
Jesus.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Could you imagine if
you bring that FBI and some of
those people to today and havethem hear what is on radio?
Oh, they'll be embarrassed,they would be embarrassed they
would be just like they'dprobably faint from just
stupidity.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
They'd probably faint
from just stupidity.
The Bureau threw surprisingresources at the time.
No fewer than six FBI fieldofficers from Tampa to Detroit
got involved, jesus.
Multiple US attorneys tookinterest and the Federal
Communications Commission, theFCC, opened its own inquiry.
Okay, agents gathered evidence,interviewed witnesses and
(14:08):
shipped copies of the record offto the FBI Crime Lab in
Washington for analysis.
So what witnesses Like?
What did they witness?
This is when they would bringin the Kingsmen.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Okay, Because I mean
good Lord.
Yeah, Did you see them go inthere and sing dirty words?
What?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Okay, so some of the
highlights of the investigation
in February of 1964.
Fbi's Seattle Indianapolisoffice received complaints
Robert Kennedy and others yeah,the lyrics are serve so filthy
we can't enclose them in thisletter kind of thing.
The Bureau opens up a criminalobscenity case on the on the
(14:47):
song and the question was therewas there improper motivation in
making the lyrics sounintelligible as to give rise
to reports that they wereobscene?
Was there any wrongdoing?
Whatever?
Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, march 1964.
With the fake lyrics in hand,fbi technicians begin their
(15:12):
forensic examination of therecord.
They play the record at 45 RPMsat every conceivable speed 45.
Slower than 33 and a thirdfaster than 78 rpms, straining
to discern any curse wordshidden in the slurred singing do
?
Speaker 2 (15:31):
they play it
backwards too?
Speaker 1 (15:33):
you know, I don't
even think I they said something
about.
No matter what speed we listento it, it's very possible they
played it backwards, but I don'tknow, I don't right because, I
don't recall if I wrote thatdown or if I read that.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
That was always a
thing especially back in the
record days.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
I think they did?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
They always said that
bands would hide.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And it's funny
because when you played things
backwards, things would come andagain it's similar to what
you're talking about Like yourmindset.
Well, did you just say thatLike worship the devil?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Like if you played a
Black Sabbath album backwards or
some shit right and it's like,no, it's just your mind is
putting it there.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, it's kind of
like those paranormal shows on
tv where they say like, oh, didyou just hear that he said hey,
hey, jack, and then they play itback and that's all you think
of, because that's what theytold you exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Anyways, may 1964.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Lacking evidence of
any crime, the fbi's initial
inquiry ground ground to a haltyeah, imagine imagine that.
By May 15th, the Bureau hadshelved the active investigation
, noting that no furtherinvestigation is to be conducted
in this manner.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Rightly so.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
So the first phase of
the saga ends with no charges.
Okay, okay.
The FBI's own summary lateradmitted the limited
investigation from February toMay of 64 discovered no evidence
of obscenity.
Right Okay.
More than a year after quoteunquote closing the case, j
Edgar Hoover was pulled backinto it.
(16:56):
Oh, jesus Christ.
Identified as a teacher, ananti-pornographic activist from
flint wrote directly to hooverdemanding to reopen the file I
mean, did you not have anythingbetter to do because it wasn't
really pornographic?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
why don't you focus
on that shit?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
she said, the
alarming rise in venereal
disease because from that song,what the hell venerealversion,
promiscuity and illegitimatebursts in the teen groups can
all be pointed at this song.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
It really can't be
Way to just use a scapegoat.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
She convinced that
Louie Louie was part of this big
scheme about all theindiscretions that teenagers are
up to.
Right, because God forbid theydon't, they do something on
their own it's all from this onesong so hoover was like all
right, we'll look into it again.
He get the.
The activist wrote back withfield research.
(17:59):
Okay, of their own.
Sure, she and her group hadplayed the record at various
speeds and claimed somewherebetween 45 and three, 33 and a
half rpms.
The obscene articulation isclearer, wow yes, wow so she had
a theory the kingsmen performeda clean version on television,
(18:21):
because they did appear brieflyon on uh some tv performance and
but released a secret obsceneversion on vinyl?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
sure because they had
the funds to do that yep okay
yep.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
So summer, summer and
fall of 1965, renewed pressure.
The fbi expanded itsinvestigation further.
Agents in new york re-examinedthe actual production yeah in
august of 65 they discovered atechnical detail louis louis was
recorded in mono on a singletrack, not on a two-track tape.
(18:59):
Can you briefly explain that,because I don't know what that
means?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
well, like you said,
they hung the one microphone
yeah, so like what the way youand I record.
We're on two tracks okay, soyou have a track.
I have a track right so withthe one microphone hanging above
them.
That's just one track, sothat's why they had to play live
and everyone had, he had toshout over the band, and so on
okay, so so yeah they said thatthere was no isolated vocal
track to scrutinize.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Correct, okay, yes.
So in September of 65, the FBIfinally went straight to the
source About time.
And interviewed the song'scomposer, Richard Berry.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So the original guy.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
The original guy, Not
even the Kingsman guy.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Not the Kingsman yeah
which still doesn't make sense,
because why wouldn't you go tothe band that sang it?
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Berry confirmed the
real lyrics.
Nothing dirty Right, Sorrydudes.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, he was just
talking about a girl.
He missed.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
The Bureau then
finally summoned members of the
Kingsmen for interviews inSeptember of 96.
One by one band members, whowere now in their early 20s at
this time, were questioned afteradvice of their rights, as if
under criminal suspicion, sowild they flatly denied
everything.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
As they should.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
The Kingsmen told
agents that their label had been
so frustrating by the falserumors that Wand Records even
offered a thousand dollarsreward to anyone who could prove
the record containedobscenities Like even they're
like go ahead, put out a reward.
There's really nothing there.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, it's literally,
it's nothing.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You won't find
anything.
Yes, Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So, as one band
member observed to the FBI, he
said quote those who want tohear such things can read it
into the vocal.
The band also debunked a theorythat they had re-recorded
vocals to include dirty wordsand they confirmed the release
track was a one-take liverecording with no overdubs.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah, so by late 1965
, October-ish, the FBI had
effectively exhausted the case.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Of course.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
On October 29th 1965,
they noted that all Kingsmen
members interviewed.
Quote reported it definitelycontained no obscenity.
End quote.
Another report famously summedup the lyrics remained
unintelligible at any speed.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Well, yeah, because
you obviously hear Louie, louie.
You can pick out a couple other, but I couldn't tell you every
single word.
I know the flow and the feeland so on of it, but I couldn't
tell you all the words, not evenclose flow and the feel and so
on of it, but I couldn't tellyou all the words, not even
close.
So after 31 months, oh my God,such a waste of time.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
The government
quietly gave up.
They're like we're just goingto shut the book on this.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, we'll just
shelve this investigation here.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
The FBI's
investigation was officially
closed on October 10th 1966.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Good Lord.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
When the lab returned
the Kingsman record and lyric
sheets to the originating officewith no further comment.
Okay, no indictments over LouieLouie.
Yeah, funny enough.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
The agents actually
did miss an obscene word which
is Around the 54 second mark ofthe song, and when I played it
to you before we startedrecording I heard it I was like,
yep, there it is.
Um drummer, lynn Easton, can beheard accidentally shouting
fuck after dropping hisdrumstick.
(22:20):
That's funny.
No one noticed, right?
No one noticed Ah that's sofunny, cause like, like and now
you listen to songs like theyhave swears all around, oh yeah
and the lyrics and the contentand the, the suggestion of it,
um, not even close so they latersaid the controversy is what
(22:41):
part like part of what kept iton the charts because the kids
thought they were getting awaywith murder.
They're like, oh my God we'resinging this dirty song.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Like, look at this,
hey, look at, I got this, a
single of this song, man, it'sdirty, let's listen to it.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yup.
So no explicit legislation waspassed as a direct result of the
Louie Louie fiasco, right Ifanything, authorities became
more cautious about seeing howdifficult and somewhat
ridiculous it was to prosecute asong for imagined obscenity.
But get this the singer jackeli, yeah, was never questioned
(23:16):
see, that's like what?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
literally just go to
him first yep and he could be
like no, this is what I sang, oh, okay okay I, how dumb are they
?
It's just such a waste ofresources and taxpayer dollars.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
And then, like the
lady I think you said she was
from Michigan, yes, she wasagainst pornography blah blah
blah.
Yeah, she's an idiot.
Yes, she was just looking for ascapegoat to make her causes
look better, and like she's.
Like all this is happeningbecause of that song.
So many things throughouthistory have been blamed on
music.
Now, don't get me wrong.
(23:54):
There's been some tragedies andthey might have some
correlation, only because theperson who did such bad things
listened to Marilyn Manson.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
And then one did some
unspeakable things in Colorado,
or video games or whatever youknow.
It's just so dumb.
They look for a scapegoat sothey can blame it on something
when, honestly, a lot of it isjust shitty people.
Yep, absolutely, or poorupbringing or whatever it might
be.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
But yeah, that is the
story of the Kingsman song
Louie Louie and the FBIinvestigation into it.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I did briefly.
I don't remember how long agoit was.
I heard about that but I neverlooked into it.
I just remember seeing like ablurb or something, maybe,
whatever it was, and it's justfunny that they literally and it
took that fucking long torealize, nope, we got nothing to
do with this.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
And then they
actually did miss the one
obscenity.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Which is funny.
I guess I never really paidattention to it that much.
I mean, I've heard that songcountless times throughout my
life.
I'll point it out to you.
Yeah, that's funny.
Yeah, that's fantastic.
What a waste of time.
Welp, I suppose.
All right, buffoons.
That's it for today's episode.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Buckle up, because
we've got another historical
adventure waiting for you.
Next time Feeling hungry formore buffoonery, or maybe you
have a burning question or awild historical theory for us to
explore.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
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gmailcom.
We are Bradley and Kate.
Music by Corey Akers.
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Speaker 2 (25:32):
Until next time, stay
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Speaker 1 (25:36):
Remember, the
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