As my annual visit to my homeland of Cuba continues for another 10 days or so I was reminded that there's little doubt that the lyrics of the Kingsmen version of Louie, Louie has been the most misheard lyrics of all time at it was so misunderstood that it launched an FBI probe into the lyrics circa 1963 when it was released. The reason that being in Cuba reminded me of it is that Louie, Louie is based on a Cuban cha cha chá. In 1956, Richard Berry, an L A RnB vocal harmony group legend was backstage at a dance that began with a Los Angeles cover band and their version of El Loca Cha, a big hit on Spanish L A radio and clubs. It was originally recorded by Cuban pianist-composer-arranger René Touzet who lived in LA but on a trip to Cuba heard a Havana hit titled Amarra El Loco(Tie Down the Crazy One) and when he returned to LA, gave it a new arrangement for a big band, renamed it and came up with the vamp, dum dum duu,. dum dum, duum dum duum duum duum which is the hook that Richard Berry heard performed by the cover band and was drawn to write a calypso, R N B style that he recorded as Louie, Louie with his group the Pharoahs and it was a minor hit in LA. In 1962 Paul Revere & The Raiders recored a cover of it and nothing happened but then a few months later The Kingsmen did their take on it, the day of the recording their lead singer was at the dentist's office that morning before their studio date, the band recorded the song live and the singer who had trouble with diction because his mouth was sore was also forced to sing into a mic high abover his head resulting in the initelligible lyrics that had kids all over the country imagining conspiracies, assansination plots, sex crazed lyrics and everything but the actual lyrics. the song was banned on stations across the nation and it got so out of hand the FBI looked into the scandal. There is a book detailing the incident written by Rock N Roll Confidential amd I assisted them as I supplied the original Cuban version that began the whole process.......
From Santiago de Cuba on the Eastern end nestled between Haiti and Jamaica........ it's Shemoeley Fine....
in turned had taked a song he hear