Louie Louie

Congratulations, it turns out that this November has accumulated the most views out of any month ever for my blog. I’m not really sure how that happened. I’d just like to thank you all for your hard work. Together we have earned an arbitrary achievement. Well done everyone!

Apparently this song is the most covered song of all time. I don’t actually know if that’s true. Wikipedia said it has been covered 1,600 times and counting. That seems like a large number. Previously, Stand by Me was the most covered song I had included in the blog. It was listed as having 400 covers, but apparently 7 million performances. 7 million is a lot (but not really. A lot is a piece of property).

I’m pretty sure most people are familiar with this song. Louie Louie by the Kingsmen. What I think most people don’t know, is that the Kingmen’s version is a cover. I didn’t, but someone did. Just to illustrate how frequently the Kingsmen’s cover is mistaken as the original, when you do a YouTube search for their version the second search suggestion that comes up is the Kingsmen Louie Louie original.  

The original version was written by Richard Berry sometime between 1955 and 1957, when the song was released. The song’s full story is actually really interesting. Berry’s version was originally released as a B-side and became popular on the West Coast, and was later rereleased as an A-side. It didn’t appear on any Billboard Charts, however.

The Kingsmen covered Louie Louie in 1963. Their version peaked at number 2 on the Billboard chart, and spent a total of 16 weeks in the top 100.

Originally I had planned to include the Beach Boys version, but after listening to Berry’s version I decided to use it instead. The Beach Boys cover is much like the original in structure. I still thought it was worth mentioning. If you’d like, you can listen to it, and compare it to the other two. It would be like a blog post in your own head. Or if you’re feeling especially critical, you can even post a comment and say what you think.

Richard Berry:

The Kingsmen:

I totally thought that I was going to be super sick of the Kingsmen’s version, and that it would be an easy choice. It’s really not though. You can understand the words in Berry’s version so that earns it points, but the Kingsmen rock the song so hard. Their version has such a strong opening, and their singer has got a pretty decent rock and roll scream. I think the Kingsmen win this one. Even considering how over exposed their version has been over the last 50 years. Berry’s version is good too, and it can be a welcome change to the familiar.