# Louie, Louie - dirty lyrics

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie-dirty-lyrics/3121>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 9, 1999, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie-dirty-lyrics/3121 "1999-09-09T01:48:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie-dirty-lyrics/3121/1 "1999-09-09T01:48:00Z")

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I’ve seen the _real_ lyrics to “Louie Louie” in numerous places, such as Cecil’s first book. However, I constantly hear about the alleged “dirty lyrics” that people thought they heard when the song first came out. So what were the supposed “dirty lyrics?” Have they ever been written down? A search on Metacrawler only yielded the actual lyrics. I was so disappointed.

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**Author:** ![omniscientnot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a5b964/32.png) [@omniscientnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omniscientnot)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie-dirty-lyrics/3121/2 "1999-09-09T02:09:00Z")

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There you go Strainger: you can thank me later 🙂

[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/louie/louie.shtml](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/louie/louie.shtml)

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**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie-dirty-lyrics/3121/3 "1999-09-09T02:12:00Z")

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Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks, omniscientnot!!

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**Author:** ![Louie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Louie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Louie)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie-dirty-lyrics/3121/4 "1999-09-09T05:09:00Z")

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NOOOOOOO!!! Not that song again!!!

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**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie-dirty-lyrics/3121/5 "1999-09-09T05:57:00Z")

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Dave Barry (humor columnist) had a good explaination for the popularity of “Louis, Louis”. He said of this song that no one could understand the words, but everyone was sure they must be dirty.

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie-dirty-lyrics/3121/6 "1999-09-09T23:19:00Z")

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I think Cecil touched on this in the first \* Straight Dope \* book. It seems the Kingsmen’s boom mike was faulty or improperly adjusted, and so their sung lyrics were not clearly reproduced.  
Occam’s Razor should apply to those who thought there were “dirty” lyrics–including the FBI.

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**Author:** ![BugZap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b77776/32.png) [@BugZap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BugZap)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 1999, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie-dirty-lyrics/3121/7 "1999-09-10T02:54:00Z")

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Noooo!  
They really were dirty!  
I have a regional variation!

three nights and days, i sailed the sea,  
efffed that girl all kinda ways,  
on my ‘slang term for ‘penis’, or Nixon’  
I feel her there, I felt my ‘slang term for ‘testicles’’ in her hair.

Course, ‘rose’ coulda meant sumpthin else.  
Who knows?

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**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 1999, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie-dirty-lyrics/3121/8 "1999-09-10T03:16:00Z")

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In case anyone’s interested:  
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_316.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_316.html)