(05-05) Benton Harbor, Mich. (AP) -- A pop culture controversy that has simmered for decades came to a head when a middle school marching band was told not to perform "Louie Louie."Benton Harbor Superintendent Paula Dawning cited the song's allegedly 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.
In a letter sent home with McCord students, Dawning said "Louie Louie" was not appropriate for Benton Harbor students to play while representing the district — even though the marching band wasn't going to sing it.
Band members and parents complained to the Board of Education at its Tuesday meeting that it was too late to learn another song, The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph reported.
"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."
Dawning said that if a majority of parents supports their children playing the song, she will reconsider her decision.
"It was not that I knew at the beginning and said nothing," Dawning said. "I normally count on the staff to make reliable decisions. I found out because a parent called, concerned about the song being played."
"Louie Louie," written by Richard Berry in 1956, is one of the most recorded songs in history. The best-known, most notorious version was a hit in 1963 for the Kingsmen; the FBI spent two years investigating the lyrics before declaring they not only were not obscene but also were "unintelligible at any speed."
― ffirehorse (firehorse), Friday, 6 May 2005 03:14 (twenty-one years ago)
Maybe I'm blind, but I don't see a prior thread on this. If that prior thread exists, I apologize for the redundancy.
― ffirehorse (firehorse), Friday, 6 May 2005 05:04 (twenty-one years ago)
I'm not sure why the FBI cared at all about discovering the lyrics to a rock song. Were people dying due to the lyrical content? Was there secret code that only the mafia knew about hidden in the song? I don't get it.
― billstevejim (billstevejim), Friday, 6 May 2005 13:31 (twenty-one years ago)
I'm not sure why the FBI cared at all about discovering the lyrics to a rock song.Anslinger, marijuana, racism, NORML, blah blah blah
― RS, Friday, 6 May 2005 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)
you should hear their version of 'sister ray'... wow.Possibly Chuck Eddy's funniest joke ever (and I don't mean this as a snark): "The only joke Ian Curtis ever made" (or words to that effect).
― RS, Friday, 6 May 2005 13:44 (twenty-one years ago)
Ha Ha. The same exact thing happened at my school in 1985. I would've thought that internet searches for song lyrics would've cleared up the controversy by now though.
― Dennis, Friday, 6 May 2005 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)
Louie is a bartender. Bartenders serve alcohol. I agree, this song is evil and the debate should not continue. And Marching bands should not syncopate either. Perverts.
― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Friday, 6 May 2005 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)
Google Benton Harbor, and you might not be as surprised that its fallen under the spell of hyper-sensitivity.
― L, P (l, p), Saturday, 7 May 2005 08:00 (twenty-one years ago)
Maybe Michigan is just afraid of turning out another Iggy Pop. Look what that song did to
him.
― Vic Funk, Saturday, 7 May 2005 11:05 (twenty-one years ago)
It is 2005. This would never have happened in 1965, after all it is now that the religious right rules the USA, they didn't in 1965.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 7 May 2005 11:10 (twenty-one years ago)
Geir, the same thing happened in the US in 1963.
― Disco Nihilist (mjt), Saturday, 7 May 2005 12:02 (twenty-one years ago)