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(April 29, 2015) -- Kevin Roderick's LAObserved.com pays an L.A. tribute to Jack Ely, who passed away in Oregon at age 71...and nearly 52 years ago sang lead on Louie Louie by the Kingsmen.
It was a low budget recording that became one of the most famous songs of the 20th century and may be the most recorded (or close to it) rock n roll record of all time to date.
Mr. Roderick's obit includes this L.A. touch: a classic video from "Hollywood A Go Go" (lip synched at the old KHJ-TV/Channel 9) Hollywood studios in 1966. Mr. Roderick accurately notes that it doesn't include Mr. Ely...who had a falling-out with the Kingsmen and left the group a few weeks after recording Louie Louie in 1963.
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To Mr. Roderick's well written obit we add some additional trivia:
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Louie Louie was recorded in summer 1963 at a Portland, Oregon studio owned by a DJ at the market's then-dominant AM rocker 91/KISN. By today's standards, the small studio used a primitive set-up: no multi-track overdubbing, recorded (on magnetic tape) in real time (band and lead singer Ely together) in one or two takes, depending on whose history one believes. The studio engineer reportedly used a microphone suspended ABOVE lead singer Ely and put him in the middle of the band, surrounding him to produce a real-world garage-band type sound. The mike placement (the story goes) required Ely to shout above him to be heard above the band and in the process he mumbled key words.
The Kingsmen's version was a minor hit in the Pacific northwest (thanks to 91/KISN) and at some point, a record promotion man gave it to Boston's Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg, New England's very popular nighttime DJ on 1510/WMEX. Ginsburg had a weekly feature he called "worst record of the week" in which listeners would vote...and Ginsburg played Louie Louie. It "won" worst record of the week for several weeks in a row, and in the process gained airplay and popularity beyond New England.
Louie Louie was also recorded by Paul Revere and Raiders, but Columbia Records' A&R man, Mitch Miller, hated rock n roll and didn't promote or distribute it, possibly costing the group a hit.
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By early 1964, the Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie had been released nationally and rumors spread that it contained sexual lyrics (at a time when obscenity was a federal crime.) One rumor we recall was that the sexual lyrics could be heard by playing the 45 rpm record at 33 1/3 rpm. Some radio stations refused to play the song...although the L.A.-LB-OC market's KFWB and KRLA played it over and over (for weeks running.)
The Governor of Indiana issued an edict banning airplay in his state (especially stupid since out of state stations from the east coast, midwest and Great Lakes areas could be easily heard in Indiana.) [Recall that this was on low-fidelity AM radio, with some mainly east coast stations like WABC adding echo/reverb, heard by teens mainly on six transistor radios or bass-heavy car radios, where it was nearly impossible to decipher subtleties.] For further absurdity, the FBI opened an investigation...which ultimately concluded that the song's lyrics were unintelligble at any speed.
We learned only recently (never noticed) that the song reportedly does contain an expletive: the word "fuck" (off mike, hollared by the drummer), who (the story goes) fumbled a drum stick. It can barely be heard at :52 seconds into the video (and we can't decipher it either.)
The Kingsmen's version (recorded in either one or two takes depending on whose history one believes) includes a goof by lead singer Ely, who comes in two bars too early following the mid-song guitar solo (at 1:55 into the video.)
Yes, it's only rock n roll...and every teenage guy watching Hollywood A Go Go was paying more attention to the Gazzarri Dancers at the time.
Oh...and Mr. Ely didn't stay in the music business. After his falling-out with the Kingsmen, he reportedly led a quiet life (trained horses for a time.)
