# "Louie, Louie"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie/338>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 10, 1999, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie/338 "1999-12-10T01:16:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie/338/1 "1999-12-10T01:16:00Z")

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Untangling The Kingsmen’s garbling of the lyrics of this song was the topic of a classic article by Cecil: [What are the REAL lyrics to “Louie Louie”?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_316.html).

I thought that Unca Cece’s loyal followers would be interested to know that they can hear for themselves the entire _original_ song–a far superior version _clearly_ sung by Richard Berry–by going to the [Lost in Time](http://www.wanderers.com/wanderer/lost.html?) page, and selecting song **A60** , near the bottom of the page.

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie/338/2 "1999-12-10T04:53:00Z")

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You can also read the FBI report investigating the lyrics at  
[http://www.apbnews.com/media/gfiles/louie/index.html](http://www.apbnews.com/media/gfiles/louie/index.html)

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**Author:** ![Grindrod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9a140/32.png) [@Grindrod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grindrod)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie/338/3 "1999-12-10T06:07:00Z")

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Fascinating stuff folks…  
Wonder what Haunted Castle sounds like???

Our little bar band used to sing different lyrics every night we did the tune, none of which sounded a bit like the ones Mr Berry sang. Go figger…

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**Author:** ![Jomolungma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@Jomolungma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jomolungma)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie/338/4 "1999-12-13T12:17:00Z")

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When the song was a Top Forty hit, I found it _de rigueur_ to carry a copy of the lyrics in my wallet. Often, with great flourish, I would whip them out to tittilate the prudish among my classmates. Long after the record had fallen from the charts, I kept the scandalous lyric sheet. Years passed . . . my worn wallet (in that quainter time we called it a ‘billfold’) needed replacing. Carefully, I removed the bedraggled piece of folded notebook paper that by then resembled a scrap of the Dead Sea Scrolls. I threw it away.

My youth had fled.

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**Author:** ![dlv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dlv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlv)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-louie/338/5 "1999-12-13T13:18:00Z")

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What makes you think that whatever they sang were **the** lyrics? I’d argue that whatever the listeners heard (or didn’t hear) were the lyrics.

(Getting philosophical here. 🙂 )