FBI Spent Years 'Researching' The Lyrics To 'Louie, Louie' Before Realizing The Copyright Office Must Have Them
from the really,-now? dept
Last week, as you may or may not have heard, a guy named Jack Ely passed away at the age of 71. The name may not be that familiar, but the voice almost certainly is. Jack Ely was -- fairly briefly -- the lead singer of the Kingsmen, and happened to do a cover song in a single take under poor conditions, that created one of the most memorable songs in rock and roll history, also known as Louie Louie:There are lots of documents about the FBI playing the record, repeatedly, at different speeds, and all coming to the conclusion that you and I and everyone else already knows: the lyrics are basically indecipherable.
And that's because the band was in a tiny studio with just three mics, played a single take of the song and Ely had to scream at a microphone on the ceiling trying to have his voice heard above the instruments (a task he basically failed at doing). But, the idea that there was a mystery to the lyrics is kind of ridiculous for a few reasons, the first one being that the song is a cover song, and the FBI could have easily listened to a few of the earlier versions of the song, such as the original by Richard Berry, or another popular one by Rockin Robin Roberts and The Fabulous Wailers (the one that inspired the Kingsmen to do the cover). You can hear both those and another one right here. Their lyrics are a lot more intelligible in all of those versions, and you can pretty quickly tell that the lyrics to the Kingsmen version is supposed to be the Rockin Robin Roberts version.
Also, as Marc Randazza notes, it took nearly two years for someone in the FBI to think, hey, isn't the song registered at the Copyright Office down the street? Maybe we should send someone over there to find out what it says? This was after the FBI had reached out to the record label (who gave them the accurate lyrics) along with the original author of the song, Richard Berry, who told them the lyrics. Oddly, apparently, the FBI never bothered to ask Ely himself what he sang, though I'm sure he would have said the same damn lyrics, which are below:
Oh, and as a general postscript, for all the hand wringing about possible obscenities in the song... there actually is one. Just not in the lyrics. At 54 seconds into the song, the drummer Lynn Easton actually fumbled his drumsticks banging them together and yells out "fuck." The FBI never caught on to that, but you can actually hear it if you listen...
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Filed Under: copyright, doj, fbi, j. edgar hoover, jack ely, kingsmen, louie louie, lyrics, obscenity
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Now I get it
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Jack Ely was singing in crypto, using a cipher from Enigma. They still couldn't crack it.
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They covered an interesting 'interpretation' of the unintelligible words.
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Triumph of hope over experience? Sounds a lot like naivety to me.
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Do you support the First Amendment, or do you see that as "intrusive government interference"?
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I agree, but I'd say it further in that it is only intrusive to those types of people when they cannot control the person who says something they do not like being said.
People say things I don't like all the time. I don't care. It might get me upset, it might bother me, but I am not the type of person that likes to control the thoughts and actions of others, and really it isn't the end of the world. Sticks and stones, and all that. There are many things I can control, but someone's ideas and thoughts, I cannot control and don't want to either. The best I can do is explain my position, hope for the best, and then walk away. And even then, it usually isn't worth my time or effort to even say anything.
But there is a large section of the community that isn't happy when they aren't in control of other's thoughts and ideas (or even actions.) To them, this is entirely intrusive and they do everything to "make the person listen," "make the person change their mind," or even "make the person mute if they can't say the things I want to hear."
For those, I can only :-(.
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Y U so slo on the uptake?
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Do you realize how the 1st ammendment would look if it was written today? Can you say "2500 pages of Hollywood protection"?
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"Good. Now square up the inane intrusiveness, banal malevolence and regulatory capture omnipresent in our beloved federal government with your support for the governments jurisdiction over stronger net neutrality rules.
"
then Mike Masnick said:
"Do you support the First Amendment, or do you see that as "intrusive government interference"?"
I suspect you didn't get the point. He is talking about the politicians actions, you are talking about the rhetoric the politicians use to sell their actions to the public.
Freedom of speech is very important. I suspect that Mike A, you and I all agree on this. The question that Mike A. seems to be asking is this: Can we trust the same govt that has been colluding with big business against the community at large to, at the same time, keep big business from suppressing free speech? Is that not what many grass root supporters of Net Neutrality are concerned about?
But the way Net Neutrality will be written and enforced will be by the govt and their big business partners (not you or I). If Net Neutrality (as enforced by govt/big business - not you or I) is so dangerous to big business, then why are so many corporations backing it?
Corporate lobbyists (not you or I) will be writing the legislation and influencing how it is enforced to protect their interests. Big businesses hire lobbyists at top dollar because they understand how the system works and know the new laws can be used against them so they are getting heavily involved in "supporting it" in order to subvert it toward their own benefit. This is Realpolitik. A hundred or so years ago we called this phenomena Mercantilism. But now that term is no longer used. In fact the red squiggles show up as if it is an invented term. As a result Mercantilism is lumped in under the free market label, causing a lot of wasted conflict by people who are actually opposed to the same thing but call it different names.
Here are some examples of Mercantilism in modern times. Tax laws are routinely written for billionaires by billionaires. Established businesses like Monsanto have their "former" employees and major stockholders sitting in high level positions in the FDA (which is supposed to regulate businesses like Monsanto). NAFTA was written by large international businesses and excluded the interest of small businesses. Uncounted amounts of money has been spent (and has continued to be spent to bail out the banks while lower class people (who the govt pays lip service to protecting) get kicked out of their homes.
Concerns over any group, corporate or government, interfering with people's free speech is a valid concern. But there are those who do not see Net Neutrality (as implemented with today's form of government) as being trusted with that role of preventing it.
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Response to: Mike A. on May 6th, 2015 @ 3:49pm
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Takeaway
Got it, thanks!
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Re: Takeaway
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Excuse me while I kiss this guy
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Re: Excuse me while I kiss this guy
Mr. Hendrix did like to play with lyrics and mess with the audience.
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On page 100 , dated 9/7/65 they interviewed someone from the band, who exactly is redacted.
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Sheesh - what a waste!
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On a related note...
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lyrics if today.....
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Re: lyrics if today.....
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fbi thugs
http://sosbeevfbi.ning.com/m/blogpost?id=2179778%3ABlogPost%3A37981
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Louie Louie
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The older boys were certain that it was and had to say it a lot while arguing their point - which no one was disputing. It was a hot topic that could be rehashed endlessly.
There wasn't much else to do at the bus stop.
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FBI unchanged
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Where America Was in '59
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Jack Ely tells his version
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Why does the FBI care?
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Re: Why does the FBI care?
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Boy, what cornpone rube could possibly have thought THAT might happen?
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not surprising
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'where are you able to see this man?'
'kitchen window.'
so the cop jingled into the kitchen, but all he could see was the wall of the building next door.
'all i see is bricks.'
'well, you have to stand in this chair here and lean way out over the sink with your cheek next to the screen. squint just right and you can see him.'
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"Well since she put me down there's been owls puking in my bed"
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cherry on top was nixon and his band of anti-americans, but the whole sundae was full of nuts.
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