When The Kingsmen released “Louie Louie” in May 1963, the tune already had a long recorded history.
FBI vs Louie Louie
Rene Touzet
Rene Touzet and his orchestra played “El Loco Cha Cha” in the early 1950s.
FBI vs Louie Louie
Richard Berry
One night singer Richard Berry heard Touzet’s song and decided to use some riffs from it to write his own song. His lyrics were about a sailor missing his girl and talking to a guy named Louie. He released the song in 1956.
It sold well in the Rhythm & Blues market, but he eventually sold the rights to the song so he could get married.
FBI vs Louie Louie
Rockin’ Robin Roberts
Rockin’ Robin Roberts, a musician from the US Pacific Northwest, heard the song and decided to add it to his band’s set list. Because of the song’s popularity, many bands began to perform it. Roberts recorded “Louie Louie” in 1961.
FBI vs Louie Louie
Paul Revere and the Raiders
Paul Revere and the Raiders also released the song in 1963. Their version was a hit on the west coast, but…
FBI vs Louie Louie
The Kingsmen
…the Kingsmen’s recording, initially released on the small jerden label, was hit in the Seattle area which led to a release on the somewhat larger wand label.
The song spent 16 weeks [December 1963 – February 1964] on the Billboard Hot 100.
FBI vs Louie Louie
Blue R & B
Society sometimes condemns rock and roll for its sexual innuendos, but double-meaning lyrics were an old story. “Anybody Here Want To Try My Cabbage?” by Maggie Jones (1924)…
FBI vs Louie Louie
“Get ‘em from the Peanut Man” by Lil Johnson (1935)…
…and others like “Good Rockin’ Tonight” by Wynonie Harris (1947), and “Smooth Slow and Easy” by the Drivers (1956) are just four of the dozens of songs that weren’t for polite company during that era.
FBI vs Louie Louie
Sarasota
Some adults thought a song’s lyrics obscene simply because someone said so. Such was the case with “Louie Louie.” On February 10, 1964 the FBI “received complaint from…Sarasota High School, advising that captioned record is very popular with the high school students, and he has been furnished lyrics for the song, which are very obscene.” And thus was launched the FBI’s inquiry “Louie Louie.”
In May 1965 the FBI concluded with a 119-page inquiry, which had the basic conclusion: “…there are unintelligible words or sounds in their [the Kingsmen] vocal where those who want to apparently find the obscenity [my emphasis], but these were honest vocal effect without thought of intended obscenity and that neither he nor the others in the group can hear the suggested obscenity….”
According to Wikipedia, “By some accounts “Louie Louie” is the world’s most recorded rock song with over 1,600 versions.” So much for obscene lyrics.
FBI vs Louie Louie
…and the sailor says to the bartender, Louie…
[Chorus]
Louie Louie, oh no
Sayin’ we gotta go, yeah yeah, yeah yeah
Said Louie Louie, oh baby
Said we gotta go
A fine little girl, she waits for me
Catch a ship across the sea
Sail that ship about, all alone
Never know if I make it home
[Chorus]
Three nights and days I sail the sea
Think of girl, all constantly
On that ship I dream she’s there
I smell the rose in her hair
[Chorus]
Okay, let’s give it to ’em, right now!
See, see Jamaica, the moon above
It won’t be long, me see me love
Take her in my arms again
I’ll tell her I’ll never leave again
[Chorus]
I said we gotta go now
Let’s take this on outta here
Let’s go!
FBI vs Louie Louie
A few…
So here’s THE version by the Kingsmen and some other versions plus a Bruce cover!
February 7, 1984: American astronaut Bruce McCandless became the first person to fly un-tethered in space during the flight of the space shuttle Challenger. (NASA bio)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
US Labor History
Immigration History
February 7, 1887: the O’Neill bill was passed which amended the Contract Labor Law of 1885. It added three major sections to the original act. The problem was largely that although the law was sweeping in its prohibition of labor contracts, it was virtually impossible to enforce.
The new sections charged the secretary of the treasury with enforcement of the act, gave him power to establish needful rules and regulations, and provided that prohibited persons were to be sent back on arrival. (IH, see March 12, 1888; LH, see Nov 1)
Sugar refinery explosion
February 7, 2008: a huge explosion and fire at the Imperial Sugar refinery northwest of Savannah, Georgia, kills 14 and injures 38 people. The explosion was fueled by massive accumulations of combustible sugar dust throughout the packaging building. An investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board stated that the explosion had been “entirely preventable,” noting that the sugar industry had been aware of the risk of dust explosions since 1926. (CSB report) (see Feb 13)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
BLACK HISTORY
Luther Holbert & unidentified woman lynched
February 7, 1904: as hundreds of white people watched and cheered, a black man named Luther Holbert and an unidentified woman were tortured and killed in Doddsville, Mississippi, a Sunflower County town in the Mississippi Delta. Holbert was accused of shooting and killing James Eastland, a white landowner from a prominent, wealthy local family that owned a plantation where many of the area’s black laborers worked. After his shooting, James Eastland’s two brothers led the posse that captured Mr. Holbert and a black woman. Some news reports identified the woman as Mr. Holbert’s wife, but later research suggested she was not; her identity remains unknown.
According to an eyewitness account published in the Vicksburg, Mississippi, Evening Post, Luther Holbert and the unnamed black woman were tied to trees while their funeral pyres were prepared. They were then forced to hold out their hands and watch as their fingers were chopped off, one at a time, and distributed as souvenirs. Next, the same was done to their ears. Mr. Holbert was then beaten so badly that his skull was fractured and one of his eyes hung by a shred from the socket. The lynch mob next used a large corkscrew to bore into the arms, legs, and body of the two victims, pulling out large pieces of raw, quivering flesh. The victims reportedly did not cry out, and they were finally thrown on the fire and allowed to burn to death. The event was described as a festive atmosphere, in which the audience of 600 spectators enjoyed deviled eggs, lemonade, and whiskey. [EJI story] (next BH, see June 13; next Lynching, see Aug 16 or for for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)
Lift Every Voice and Sing
In 1905: John Johnson, the brother of James Weldon Johnson who wrote the poem “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” put music it. (next BH, see April 14, 1906; see Lift for expanded story)
Marcus Garvey
February 7, 1923: Edward Young Clarke, Imperial Giant of the Ku Klux Klan, came New York City from Atlanta, GA and appeared before the Federal Grand Jury as a witness against Garvey, who would to be tried on February 20 on a charge of defrauding investors in the Black Star Line. (BH, see Feb 13; seeMG for expanded chronology)
Carter G. Woodson
February 7, 1926: Negro History Week, originated by Carter G. Woodson, was observed for the first time. (see Sept 1)
Medgar Evers & News Music
February 7, 1964: a Jackson, Mississippi jury, trying Byron De La Beckwith for the murder of Medgar Evers in June 1963, reported that it could not reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial. The jury Was 7-5 for acquittal.
Phil Ochs had already released his composition “Ballad of Medgar Evers. (next Black History, see Feb 10; seeEvers for extensive chronology; NM, see Mar 21)
UK’s National Front
February 7, 1967: in the UK, the ultra-right National Front political party forms. Its slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White Children“
Viola Liuzzo
February 7, 1997: from the NYT, “Last week, a Confederate battle flag was spray-painted on a monument in Hayneville, Ala., to Viola Liuzzo.” (BH, see May 16; see VL for expanded chronology)
Alabama & 13th Amendment
February 7, 2013: Charles A. Barth, director of the Federal Register, wrote back to Mississippi Secretary of State, Delbert Hosemann, that he had received theresolution: “With this action, the State of Mississippi has ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.” (see Feb 13)
Emmett Till
February 7, 2023: Emmett Till’s cousin Patricia Sterling of Jackson, Mississippi, filed a federal lawsuit against the current Leflore County sheriff, Ricky Banks. The suit sought to compel Banks to serve the warrant on Carolyn Bryant, now Carolyn Bryant Donham. [AP story] (next BH, see Apr 6; next ET, see Apr 25, or see Till chronology for expanded story)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam
US recognizes Emperor Boa Dai
February 7, 1950: the United States recognized Vietnam under the leadership of Emperor Bao Dai, not Ho Chi Minh who was recognized by the Soviets. (see May 8)
Viet Cong attack spurs US bombing
February 7, 1965: National Liberation Front commandos attacked a US helicopter base and advisory compound in the central highlands of South Vietnam. The attack killed seven Americans and wounded 80. President Johnson immediately ordered U.S. Navy fighter-bombers to attack military targets just inside North Vietnam. (see Feb 8)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
Pledge of Allegiance
February 7, 1954: in the past, some American presidents had honored Lincoln’s birthday by attending services at the church Lincoln attended in Washington, DC, [the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church] by sitting in Lincoln’s pew on the Sunday nearest February 12. On February 7, 1954, with President Eisenhower sitting in Lincoln’s pew, the church’s pastor, George MacPherson Docherty, delivered a sermon based on the Gettysburg Address titled “A New Birth of Freedom.” He argued that the nation’s might lay not in arms but its spirit and higher purpose. He noted that the Pledge’s sentiments could be those of any nation, that “there was something missing in the pledge, and that which was missing was the characteristic and definitive factor in the American way of life.” He cited Lincoln’s words “under God” as defining words that set the United States apart from other nations.
President Eisenhower, baptized a Presbyterian the previous February, responded enthusiastically to Docherty in a conversation following the service. (seePoA for expanded chronology)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
February 7 Music et al
Van Gelder Studios
February 7, 1960: Hank Mobley recorded his “Soul Station” album in Van Gelder Studios of Rudy Van Gelder in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. After having gained a reputation in the mid-Fifties for the quality of the recordings he made in the living room at his parents’ house in Hackensack, New Jersey, Van Gelder moved to a new facility in Englewood Cliffs in 1959. The structure was inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and bore some resemblance to a chapel, with 39-foot ceilings and fine acoustics. Critic Ira Gitler described the studio in The Space Book (1964) liner notes:”In the high-domed, wooden-beamed, brick-tiled, spare modernity of Rudy Van Gelder’s studio, one can get a feeling akin to religion.” (next TC, see Apr 4; see Van Gelder for expanded story on studio)
The Beatles
Please Please Me
February 7, 1963: “Please Please Me”/ “Ask Me Why” released as single on Vee-Jay label.
Dick Biondi, a disc jockey on WLS in Chicago and a friend of Vee-Jay executive Ewart Abner, played the song on the radio thus becoming the first DJ to play a Beatles record in the US. It reached No. 35 on WLS music survey in March, but did not chart nationally; not on Billboard. Note the misspelling…Beattles. (see Mar 3)
Beatles arrive in USA
February 7, 1964: arrive in the US and are greeted by thousands of screaming fans at NYC’s Kennedy Airport. (see Feb 9)
February 7, 1990: the Central Committee of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party agreed to endorse President Mikhail Gorbachev’s recommendation that the party give up its 70-year long monopoly of political power. The Committee’s decision to allow political challenges to the party’s dominance in Russia was yet another signal of the impending collapse of the Soviet system. (see Mar 15)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
The Euro
February 7, 1992: members of the European Community signed the Maastricht Treaty in Maastricht, Netherlands. The Treaty created the European Union and eventually to the creation of the single European currency, the euro.
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
TERRORISM
February 7, 1995: Ramzi Yousef, the alleged mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan. (see November 13, 1995)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
Sexual Abuse of Children
February 7, 2005: Paul Shanley convicted of four charges relating to offences committed in the 1980s including rape and indecent assault. (Sexual; abuse, see Feb 15; Shanley, see July 28, 2017)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
LGBTQ
February 7, 2012: the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled 2–1 that Proposition 8, the 2008 referendum that banned same-sex marriage in state, was unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In the ruling, the court said, the law “operates with no apparent purpose but to impose on gays and lesbians, through the public law, a majority’s private disapproval of them and their relationships.” (see Feb 13)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
Cannabis
February 7, 2014: the farms bill signed by President Obama included a provision that legalizes hemp cultivation for research purposes. Under the new law, universities and state departments of agriculture would be authorized to cultivate hemp for research purposes in states where its been legalized; prior to this law, a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was required to research hemp, a license which was virtually impossible to receive. Nine states in the U.S. that had legalized hemp cultivation; California, Oregon, Colorado, Montana, West Virginia, Vermont, North Dakota, Kentucky and Maine. (next Cannabis, see Feb 14 or see CCC or expanded chronology)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
Immigration History
February 7, 2017: the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard August E. Flentje , a Justice Department lawyer said courts should not second-guess President Trump’s targeted travel ban.
The appeals court judges sometimes seemed taken aback by the assertiveness of the administration’s position, which in places came close to saying the court was without power to make judgments about Mr. Trump’s actions. (see Feb 9)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
Women’s Health
Affordable Care Act
February 7, 2018: with ongoing waffling regarding women’s health, University of Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins announceda ban on “abortion-inducing drugs” from its third-party-provided insurance plans. (WH, seeFeb 14; ND & ACA, see June 26)
Access
February 7, 2019: the US Supreme Court blocked a Louisiana law that its opponents say would have left the state with only one doctor in a single clinic authorized to provide abortions.
The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s four-member liberal wing to form a majority. That coalition underscored the pivotal position the chief justice has assumed after the departure last year of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who used to hold the crucial vote in many closely divided cases, including ones concerning abortion. [NYT story] (see Mar 25)
The vote was 5 to 4, with the four more liberal members of the court in dissent.
The majority offered little reasoning but said that Ray had waited too long to object. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the dissenters, said the majority was “profoundly wrong.”
Under Alabama’s policy, she wrote, “a Christian prisoner may have a minister of his own faith accompany him into the execution chamber to say his last rites.”
“But if an inmate practices a different religion — whether Islam, Judaism or any other — he may not die with a minister of his own faith by his side,” Justice Kagan wrote. [NYT article] (next DP, see Mar 13; religion & DP, see Feb 27)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
Trump Impeachment
February 7, 2020: NBC News reported that President Donald Trump had fired Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and removed Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from his White House job.
Both officials had provided critical information about Trump during public hearings, with Sondland saying the president sought a “quid pro quo” with Ukraine’s leader and Vindman criticizing Trump’s conduct during a July 25th phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as “improper.”
Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council who testified during the House impeachment inquiry, was ousted from his job and escorted out of the White House. Vindman’s twin brother, who also worked for the NSC, was also removed from his post. (next TI, see or see Trump for expanded chronology)
February 7 Peace Love Art Activism
Native Americans/Trump Wall
February 7, 2020: CBS News reported that US border contractors had begun “controlled blasting” at a sacred burial grounds where members of the Tohono O’odham Nation buried their ancestors to make way for President Donald Trump’s US-Mexico border wall
The site is located inside Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on land adjacent to the Tohono O’odham Nation. Archaeologists touring the site before construction said they found human remains dating back 10,000 years.
“The construction contractor has begun controlled blasting, in preparation for new border wall system construction, within the Roosevelt Reservation at Monument Mountain in the US Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector,” the US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. (next NA, see Apr 17; next Immigration, see Feb 21; next TW, seeJune 24, or see Wallfor expanded chronology)
February 6, 1958: George Harrison joined The Quarrymen. The group, named after Lennon’s school, featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Len Garry, Eric Griffiths and John Lowe.. George Harrison (recalling those early days): “I was very impressed by John, probably more than Paul, or I showed it more. I suppose I was impressed by all the Art College crowd. John was very sarcastic, always trying to put you down, but I either took no notice or gave him the same back, and it worked.” (see July 15)
February 6 Music et al
All Those Years Ago
Exactly 33 years later (and 60 days after John Lennon’s murder) on February 6, 1981, George Harrison completed the recording of All Those Years Ago, Harrison’s musical tribute to Lennon.
Ringo Starr had worked with Harrison on the song in November 1981 intending to use it on his own album, but decided not to. After lennon’s assassination, Harrison changed the lyrics and invited Paul McCartney to join on the vocals.
It was the first time that the three former band mates had appeared on the same recording since “I Me Mine” in 1970.
The song’s personnel are:
George Harrison – vocals, electric guitars, synthesizer, backing vocals
Al Kooper – electric piano
Herbie Flowers – bass
Ringo Starr – drums
Ray Cooper – tambourine
Paul McCartney – backing vocals
Linda McCartney – backing vocals
Denny Laine – backing vocals
Harrison’s Dark Horse label released the song in the United States on May 11, 1981. The song went to #2 in the United States. (2017 K-SHE’95 article) (see Feb 19)
I’m shouting all about love While they treated you like a dog When you were the one who had made it so clear All those years agoI’m talking all about how to give They don’t act with much honesty But you point the way to the truth when you say All you need is loveLiving with good and bad I always looked up to you Now we’re left cold and sad By someone the devil’s best friend Someone who offended allWe’re living in a bad dream They’ve forgotten all about mankind And you were the one they backed up to the wall All those years ago You were the one who imagined it all
All those years ago All those years agoDeep in the darkest night I send out a prayer to you Now in the world of light Where the spirit free of lies And all else that we despisedThey’ve forgotten all about God He’s the only reason we exist Yet you were the one that they said was so weird All those years ago You said it all though not many had ears All those years ago You had control of our smiles and our tears All those years agoAll those years ago All those years ago
February 6 Music et al
Billboard #1
February 6 – 19, 1965: “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” by the Righteous Brothers #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1999, BMI listed the song as the one most often played on American radio and television in the 20th century, with some 8 million plays. That total includes all versions of the song, not just The Righteous Brothers’.
The husband-and-wife songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil wrote the song. For inspiration, the team used the idea of Four Tops’ big hit, “Baby I Need Your Loving.” Phil Spector also receives writing credit, although he did not contribute to it. As a powerful producer, he, like others, claimed inspiration and perspiration as sufficient.
The opening line, “You never close your eyes any more when I kiss your lips,” was inspired by the Paris Sisters song “I Love How You Love Me,” which begins, “I love how your eyes close whenever you kiss me.”
The song was the first Righteous Brothers release on Philles Records, and it gave both the duo and the songwriting team their first #1 hit. (see Righteous for more)
February 6 Music et al
The Road to the Woodstock Festival
February 6, 1969: Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld met John Roberts and Joel Rosenman for the first time. Lang and Kornfeld propose a music studio retreat in Woodstock, NY that would be an ideal place for musicians to make music in a relaxed atmosphere in an area where many other young musicians live. (see Road for expanded story)
February 6 Music et al
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
Paul Revere and the Raiders also released the song in 1963. Their version was a hit on the west coast, but…
…the Kingsmen’s recording, initially released on the small jerden label, was hit in the Seattle area which led to a release on the somewhat larger wand label.
The song spent 16 weeks [December 1963 – February 1964] on the Billboard Hot 100.
Some adults thought a song’s lyrics obscene simply because someone said so. Such was the case with “Louie Louie.” On February 10, 1964 the FBI “received complaint from…Sarasota High School, advising that captioned record is very popular with the high school students, and he has been furnished lyrics for the song, which are very obscene.” And thus was launched the FBI’s inquiry “Louie Louie.”
