I never understood how a land like Uncle Sam's could be so ambigious. First of all they are responsible for the best popular music in the last century. On the other hand, they did use the FBI to investigate a popular tune like Louie Louie on obscenities, like if those would not exist in their politics. But what the heck, let's talk about the man who created that tune.

R&B legend Richard Berry (born in 1935) died as a happy man in 1997. For most of his life, he was a forgotten doo-wopper, a genre that dated very fast. He will always be remembered for that one song he wrote down on a napkin between sets in a Los Angeles nightclub in 1957. Louie Louie didn’t bring him fame and fortune immediately, it were The Kingsmen, Paul Revere & The Raiders and hundreds of others who gave the song an exceptional status. The Kingsmen, a band from Portland-Oregon recorded the song in a studio where manager Ken Chase was in charge. Lead singer Jack Ely remembers: "I stood in the middle of the circle and sang or rather almost yelled up at a boom mic that was suspended about four or five feet above my head. There were other mics on the amplifiers and one on the bass drum and one near the snare drum under the symbols, but they were used for definition. Basically the whole thing was recorded on the one overhead mic in order to capture that "live sound" Mr. Chase said we sounded like we did at his teen club". Louie Louie became a big success and has been covered more then 1500 times (even specialized websites lost tracks about the exact numbers). Richard Berry sold the rights in the fifties for $750 and had to wait until the mid-eighties before he could recover some royalties. Even Iggy Pop made a cover and Richard Berry won a substantial settlement.

The best of Berry can be found on the album Get Out of the Car, most own material. Louie Louie is not included. That one can be found on The Best of Flip Records, together with a bunch of other doowoppers from that period. It's also on Best of Louie Louie, a sampler from Rhino, but that one is for freaks who can stand a second listen to the Sandpipers or the Rice University Marching Owl Band. See you next week, and do not forget to wop!

Video: Richard Berry - Louie Louie

Get Out of the Car - Flair 1994
The Best of Flip Records, Vols. 1-3 - Titanic 1997 (Louie Louie on Vol.3)
Best of Louie Louie - Rhino 1988

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