REWIND: “Louie Louie” and other songs that keep our editor going

The Kingsmen, Louie Louie

The Kingsmen do “Louie Louie.”

The good news is that, after two consecutive weeks where I had to do tribute columns to musicians who had died, as of the moment I’m writing this I don’t have to do a third. That’s good, because we don’t need another run like we had in 2016. I’m not sure I could take it.

Despite that, I’ve been feeling just generally blah. It’s been a busy couple weeks, it’s been too hot and, now, too smoky, and I’m just not feeling it. So this is going to be one of those lazy columns where I just list songs I like without even pretending to string them together with any sort of news hook.

Here are five songs I’ve been listening to this week to keep me energetic and motivated enough to not get fired.



Stevie Nicks — “Edge of Seventeen”

I hadn’t seen this video before embedding it just now so I just have to say: Get a load of that ’80s hair. That is extremely ’80s hair. Seems like way more trouble than it’s worth.

Anyway, I love this song. No idea what it means, though. It took an embarrassingly long time for me to even figure out that the repeated line from the chorus is, “Just like the white-winged dove,” and once I found out, it didn’t make any more sense. The lyrics may be super profound, but I’d never know, they never sink in as words.

Do I care? No. Still a great song. It’s just weird, usually I gravitate toward lyrics.

[Gokhman note: OK, so Willis is obviously down in the dumps this week. I’d tell you to send him flowers, but he has a girlfriend now, so that might not fly].


The Kingsmen — “Louie Louie”

But Stevie Nicks can’t compete with the least comprehensible lyrics of all time. The song that reportedly got its own FBI investigation to check whether it was obscene because nobody could tell by just listening to it. It got banned by radio stations because, in the absence of any clues as to what they were singing, the early ’60s could only assume it was either pornography or communism.

Back then there weren’t so much “cover bands” because there were only two or three songs and every band put a version on every album. For example, “Louie Louie” was written in 1955 by Richard Berry, and in the ’60s alone, versions were recorded and released by the following: Barry Allen (not The Flash), The Angels, The Beach Boys, Bobby Fuller Four, Ray Brown, The Beau Brummels, Ace Cannon, Eddie Cano, The Challengers, Neil Chotem, Floyd Cramer, Don and the Goodtimes, Jack Ely, Euphoria’s Id, Pete Fountain, The Fugitives, The Gurus, Wilbert Harrison, The Iguanas, Jan & Dean, The Kinks, Julie London, Los Yetis, David McCallum (yes, Ducky on “NCIS”), Willie Mitchell, Mongo Santamaria, Sandy Nelson, Pink Finks, The Pyramids, Otis Redding, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Rockin’ Robin Roberts, The Sandpipers, The Shadows of Knight, Sir Arthur, The Sonics, The Standells, The Surfaris, The Swamp Rats, The Swingin’ Medallions, The Syndicate of Sound, The Trashmen, The Troggs, The Ventures, Travis Wammack, Jackey Yoshikawa and Frank Zappa.

And that’s only a partial list. It’s been recorded at least 1,600 times; possibly as many as 2,000.



Wilson Pickett — “Land of 1,000 Dances”

I always thought the name “Land of 1,000 Dances” sounded like a song off one of those ’90s relaxation CDs they advertised on TV that had Enya on all of them. But no, it’s one of the catchiest rock and roll songs of its era. And nowhere in it, as far as I can remember, does the title come up.

Oh, and Motorhead also did a version of “Louie Louie,” which is really great. But it wasn’t the ’60s, so I couldn’t put it on the list in the last entry.


Fountains of Wayne — “Stacy’s Mom”

I think all the straight men and lesbians out there knew a Stacy’s mom when we were young and flooded with hormones and even stupider than usual, but I’ve always wondered what it was like for the Stacies out there. Did you know? Were you bitter about it? Are you still bitter about it? Did your mom know? Was she creeped out or did she think it was funny?

I have so many questions.

Actually, now that I’m pushing 40 the current Stacy’s moms are my peer group, those last couple questions can go directly to you. I’m all over social media, contact me, I need to know what it’s like from the other side.



Lustra — “Scotty Doesn’t Know”

I’ve already gone over what a tragically underrated movie “Eurotrip” is, and that it’s Matt Damon’s finest role and all that. The whole scene with this song is just the most savage thing, and whoever wrote it has something seriously wrong with him in the best way. But also, it’s a really good song.

Oh, did you know the Beatles recorded “Louie Louie,” too? It was… different. They never released it, but it did eventually come out in one of the countless compilations of subpar outtakes and “rarities” and such. Seriously, there’s a whole album of just covers of “Louie Louie.” It’s madness.

Follow editor Daniel J. Willis and tweet your favorite version of “Louie Louie” to him at Twitter.com/BayAreaData.

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